Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revolutionary Assassins
by SonicAnimeStudios
Summary: When Edward and Alphonse Elric end up on a different side of the Gate, they find themselves in an empire filled with corruption and murder. By joining the assassin group Night Raid, will they succeed in restoring peace? Story is post-Conqueror of Shamballa/2003 series. Pairings to be determined for Ed and Al when the time comes.
1. Chapter 1: Kill the Gate Portal

_Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revolutionary Assassins_

Chapter 1: Kill the Gate Portal

 **A/N: Hello readers. It has been two years since I have written fan fiction on this website. My interest in writing has returned after something persuaded me to develop a story on these two anime. If I keep up my interest here, I may just return to continue writing on another crossover I put off two years ago too. Without further interruptions, I present the first** ** _Fullmetal Alchemist_** **and** ** _Akame ga Kill_** **crossover. The setting takes place near the end of the movie** ** _Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa_** **and before Chapter 1 of the** ** _Akame ga Kill_** **manga.**

 **Disclaimer:** ** _Fullmetal Alchemist_** **is owned by Hiromu Arakawa, and** ** _Akame ga Kill_** **is owned by Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro.**

* * *

"It's all over guys," Edward Elric said to his brother Alphonse and General Roy Mustang as he stood at the exit of the rocket-powered airship that had been piloted by Dietlinde Eckhart, who had crossed over into Amestris in hopes of using his world's weapons to conquer her world, but in the end had failed after Edward, Alphonse, and General Mustang overcame her with their alchemy.

"So what now?" General Mustang asked as he turned to Ed. In response, Ed clasped his hands together and placed them on the wing of the aircraft, suprising Al and the general. Suddenly the wing began to slowly drift away from the airship.

"Brother," Al exclaimed with worry in his voice as he tried to reach for Ed, but the General held him back. "What are you doing?"

"I put in enough alchemic material to get you two back down to the surface safely," Ed answered with a small smile on his face.

General Mustang's look of worry grew. "What about you Fullmetal? Where will you go?"

"I'm gonna be taking this airship and these dead soldiers back to their world," Ed explained.

"Why brother? You don't have to go," screamed Al as his eyes began to fill with tears and tried to reach again for his brother, but was held back again by General Mustang again.

"I have to Al. I have to break the other side of the Gate, and I need you to stay here to break the side here. I cannot risk our worlds being connected to each other anymore," the older brother further explained and then proceeded to walk into the airship.

"What about Winry? Don't you know that she misses you too?" Alphonse screamed again, hoping that he could persuade his brother this time. Ed paused for a second and looked down with solemn, but he quickly turned about with another smile on his face.

"Tell her thanks," Ed answered as he gave a thumbs up with his automail right arm. "She always made the best."

The tears suddenly began to fall in streams on Al's face. "Wait," Al cried. "Brother no! I just got you back! You can't go again!"

* * *

 _Moments Later_

Edward sat in the cockpit of the airship, strapping himself into Eckhart's seat to prepare piloting it. "Okay. The controls here shouldn't be that different from the small rocket I used to get here," the blonde alchemist said to himself. "Let's see. This lever here should be the throttle to the ship." He pulled the lever, and suddenly felt the ship shake as it fired its engines. He clutched the controls tightly as the ship launched forward, proceeding to steer down towards the giant hole in Central City, which led to the ancient underground city where the Gate portal was.

Once Ed entered the underground city, he carefully steered the ship into the giant Gate portal. Upon entering, hundreds of black arms enveloped the ship including Ed, who struggled to keep them from touching him as he tried to pilot through the portal. "Get off of me," Ed yelled at the arms, slapping another one of them away with his right arm. The arms then retreated, and Ed refocused his attention towards piloting the airship. A bright light approached ahead, giving Ed a sense of hope. "There! I see the other side of the Gate!"

Something immediately caught the attention of Ed as he looked ahead. Instead of seeing the inside of the castle where the airship had originally launched from, the sight of a grassy field came more clearly into the alchemist's view. "Oh shoot! Better brace for impact!" He leaned forward and held on tightly to the control board as the ship plunged into the ground with a great tremble. "Ugh!" Ed's body stiffened when his head slammed against the control board.

"Oh man. I really need to work on my landing," grunted Ed as he rubbed his head with his left land, only to get some blood on it. He yanked the straps from the seat off, slowly got up, and climbed through the rubble to get to the hole in the airship's side. As he exited, he looked around and found himself in a small meadow next to a forest. He definitely was not in the castle anymore, nor did the place look like anywhere he had been in Germany before. "W-what is this? Am I really on the other side of the Gate?"

Ed was interrupted by the sound of creaking metal from inside the damaged airship. He turned around to find a huge glob of what appeared to be black sludge slowly walking out. "The hell is that thing?" His voice was loud enough for the giant sludge monster to turn its attention towards him.

"YOU," the sludge exclaimed in a menacing voice, and proceeded to slowly walk towards Ed, and he recoiled in horror when it spoke. "GET ME THROUGH THE GATE AGAIN! I MUST GO BACK!"

"Damn it. How am I supposed to fight this thing? I can't use my alchemy as it doesn't work on the other side of the Gate, but it seems like I'm not back on the other side," Ed said to himself as he backed away. "But I might as well try to work it!" The blonde alchemist clasped his hands together and a bright light was emitted, and so he quickly transmuted his automail arm into a blade, rushed at the giant monster, and sliced it across its neck.

The mysterious creature stopped moving and fell to the ground on its right side, with Ed transmuting his arm back to normal, knowing that it was over. The black sludge began to dissipate, and all that remained in front of Ed was the now deceased body of Dietlinde Eckhart. The young alchemist let out a small sigh and looked at body for a least another four seconds before clasping his hands together again and placing them on the ground, creating a rectangular hole about three meters deep. Ed picked up the dead body of Eckhart and placed it in the hole, then transmuted a shovel and began shoveling dirt over the hole.

"As radical and insane as you were for all the damage you have done, I figured it would be at least a little bit appropriate to give you some sort of grave instead of letting your body rot out in the open," Ed spoke to the already buried body of Eckhart. He then patted down the dirt and plopped onto the ground to rest, looking at the sky to see the Gate portal directly above him. He then remembered something and looked at his surroundings more.

"Noah! Are you there?" Ed shouted, but did not see anyone nor hear anyone response. "Hey Alfonse! Al!" Of course he was referring to his friend Alfonse Heiderich, who he had last seen launching him in a rocket to his world.

"Yes brother?" A voice answered. Ed turned his attention to a familiar looking armored suit that was resting alongside the airship.

"Oh, so you made it here too Al," Ed said with a small smile on his face, feeling a bit relived to hear his younger brother's voice again. "How long until your soul wears off in that armor?" The armor's helmet popped off, and a smiling chuckling light brown haired boy peaked out from inside.

"Alphonse!" Ed exclaimed in shock, jumping up and rushing towards his brother. "What the heck were you doing in there?"

"I jumped onboard the ship at the last minute, and then I hid inside this armor," Al explained as he took off the front armor plating and hopped out. "Don't worry about the other side of the Gate back in our world. I told General Mustang to handle destroying it."

"But why Al?"

"Because I want to be by your side brother," Al answered. "I want to go wherever you go, face the same dangers that you face, and see places that you see. I want it to be like those years we spent searching for the Philosopher's Stone to get our bodies back."

Ed's eyes widened at the mention of the Philosopher's Stone. _That can only mean…_ He thought. "Alphonse. Are you saying that you regained your memories?"

The younger brother nodded with confidence. "Yep. I guess they all came back to me as we were passing through the portal. I was willing to let go of living in Amestris waiting for you, and I can remember all our previous journeys and the people we met along the way."

A chuckle came from Ed. "Equivalent exchange. It sure must work in mysterious ways," the former State Alchemist said to himself.

"So Ed. Since your alchemy works here, that means mine probably does to," Al said. "And that means we should have no problem destroying the Gate."

"You got it Al," the older brother answered. The two nodded at each other with smiles and looked up at the Gate in the sky. Both brothers clasped their hands together and transmuted the ground, launching two giant spiked pillars at the Gate and destroying it. "And now that is taken care of. Come on Al, let's go!"

"Go where?" Al asked. "You said you didn't know where you were and didn't recognize this place."

"There's no point in arguing Al. Besides there's a dirt road over there," Ed exclaimed, pointing to one that led into the forest. "We're bound to run into somebody who can help us find out where the hell we are."

"Hold on brother." Alphonse ripped off part of his red cloak, clasped his hands, and transmuted it, creating another cloak and tossed it to Ed. "You're gonna need this." The younger then used his alchemy to repair his own cloak.

The older alchemist slipped on the cloak and whistled. To Edward, it felt good to be wearing one again for the first time years. "Thanks Al! It's a perfect fit," he said. "You ready now?"

Alphonse nodded. "Lead the way."

The two brothers advanced on the dirt road together, in search of a new life and new journey to partake.

* * *

 **A/N: That concludes the first chapter of my first new story in two years. Leave your reviews on whether or not you enjoyed it. Thank you.**


	2. Chapter 2: Kill the Tax Collector

_Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revolutionary Assassins_

Chapter 2: Kill the Tax Collector

 **Disclaimer:** ** _Fullmetal Alchemist_** **is owned by Hiromu Arakawa, and** ** _Akame ga Kill_** **is owned by Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro.**

* * *

About an hour had passed since the Elric brothers' had landed wherever they were, and they still could not find a single human to help them locate where they were. Ed and Al passed the time by recounting what had in the past two years to them. First, Ed told Al about his counterpart Alfonse Heiderich on the other side of the Gate and his fascination with building rockets, and the gypsy Noah who could see into people's minds.

"That's amazing brother," Al exclaimed. "So those dreams that I had almost every single night of me being older and building rockets alongside you were correct. So how is this Alfonse doing?"

Ed gasped at Al's question and stopped walking, and Al stopped a bit ahead and turned around. "Well if you remember what I said back in Central, it's likely that the other world's Alfonse sacrificed himself to get me back home through the Gate in the same way Wrath sacrificed himself to open it on your side," Ed answered in a sad tone. "Plus he was rather close to death with repeating coughing fits he had from building rockets most of the time."

"I see," Al replied.

"Anyways, let's keep walking," Ed rebutted as he strolled forward a bit, but stopped again. "Al. I also saw dad before I came back." The younger brother gasped. "He had been captured by the people who had tried to open the Gate on the other side and used as their sacrificial pawn. Though in order for them to open the Gate, he became Envy's chew toy."

"Envy?" The younger brother shouted in horror, as the memories of the homunculus who had stabbed Ed through the chest when he tried to rescue him from Dante flashed through his mind.

"Apparently he turned into giant dragon upon passing through the Gate, and those people wanted him as part of their plan too," Ed continued to explain. "But as I was saying, dad actually wanted to be sacrificed to send me back home, and he asked me as a last request to give his regards to you." As Ed looked at Alphonse, he saw streams of tears falling from his brother face and decided to bring him in for a hug. "What are you crying for Al? I'm sure if he was here he would proud of how much you've grown and improved on your alchemy."

Al stopped crying and wiped away the leftover tears from his eyes and he smiled. "You're right. And I sure he would be proud of how tall you are," said Al, immediately ticking off Ed.

 **"** **Let's not get carried away with calling me a microscopic twerp who can't reach the top of a bookshelf,"** Ed yelled with rage. "Wait a second. Haha! Looks like I'm finally taller than you Al! The day someone hears the name 'Edward Elric the Fullmetal Alchemist,' they'll no longer mistake you for me!" The older alchemist then twirled with joy as Al's face gave off a blank expression.

 _Yep. Even at eighteen years old, Edward still can't get over his height_ , Al thought.

"Let's go now Al," Ed exclaimed. "We can discuss more about our pasts when we stop somewhere." Before any of the brothers could take another step forward in the direction they were heading on the dirt path, a loud roar suddenly came from in front of them. "What the hell?"

"Brother," Al said. "Do you think there are any monsters in this forest?"

"Seriously Al, monsters? You're what, thirteen years old, and you really still believe in…?"

Another roar sounded off again. This time, Edward took off towards the direction of the roar without a second thought. Alphonse closely followed behind him.

"Hey wait up," the younger brother called out. "Why do you want to go to where that sound is coming from?"

"Because wherever there's a giant roar, there's someone in trouble," Ed answered as he ran.

* * *

 _Some village_

In a small village located off the side of the dirt road, a large group of village men with swords, spears, and halberds took their position against a giant cockroach-looking monster with claws that had crawled out from the ground. "Everyone watch out," the group's leader shouted back at the men. "It's an Earth Dragon!"

The dragon roared and slammed one of its fists down in front of the group of men. Some of the men lost their balance and fell from the impact of the dragon's fist on the ground. The rest took the advantage of slashing their weapon on the giant hand and both its feet, which caused the beast to roar again and lift its fist up.

"Back up! It's gonna strike again," one of the men warned his fellow villagers.

The Earth Dragon lowered its left arm to swipe away the humans below him. Before it could even land a hit, a mysterious person dashed from the forest and drove a blade into the dragon's arm, slicing downward towards its hand. The dragon roared even louder and backed up from the group of village men.

"Look everyone," one of the men exclaimed pointing ahead. In front of the group stood a blonde teenager with long hair and a metal arm with a blade attached to it. The teenager returned his right metal arm to normal and turned his head around towards the village men.

"I heard the roar of this giant monster figuring that there would be somebody in trouble," Edward said to them. "And it looks like my guess was right. Now Al!"

Behind the Earth Dragon came a young boy with long light brown hair jumping from one of the trees holding a giant sharp billhook. As he dashed downwards, he drove the blade of the weapon into the back of the dragon, and it screamed yet again. "How was that brother?"

"Nice job," Edward proclaimed as he finished transmuting a giant sword. He then transmuted a giant pillar to launch himself from to get high above the Earth Dragon and jumped off it. "Time to say good night! Yaaaah!" With one swing of his sword, the alchemist severed the head of the beast, and it fell the ground with a thud. "Is everyone all right?"

"I don't believe it," the leader of the group exclaimed. "This is the first time I have ever seen two people let alone kids take down a first class Danger Beast! Everybody get the women and children! Tell them that the coast is clear! We are going to feast tonight for our mysterious brave warriors!"

* * *

 _Later that evening_

The village was lively with a large bonfire lighting up in the center, folk music being played, and a long table of food was setup by the villagers. "Listen up everyone," the group leader who also happened to be the leader of the village spoke. "We all know that these are desperate times we live in, but that doesn't mean we can't find some joy and peace once in a while. So let us make it last tonight!" The villagers exploded in cheers as Ed and Al looked on.

"Let's not sit around any longer Al," Ed said to his brother.

"Right let's eat," Al responded. The brother immediately scarfed down as much as they could after having not eaten for almost over a day.

"There is plenty so eat up," the village leader said to the brothers as he sat down across the table from the brothers. "By the way you can call me Cato."

"And my name's Edward Elric, and this is my younger brother Alphonse," the older alchemist said.

"Likewise sir," the younger alchemist followed up. "By the way Mr. Cato, if you don't mind me asking. You mentioned something about desperate times you were living in. What did you mean by that?"

"Well to the you the truth kid, despite our village looking well off with all of the food we've prepared for your deeds to protect us from that Danger Beast, we're one step closer to poverty, and have only about three months of food left," Cato answered. "The taxation that the Empire has plagued upon the people makes it nearly impossible for us to keep living the way we are now. Hell, we can't even get a loaf of bread for three silver coins in the capital anymore."

"The Empire?" Edward returned, not understanding what Cato meant.

"You two really aren't from around here?" Cato quipped back with a raised eyebrow. "Foreigners I supposed?"

The Elric Brothers looked at each other then back to Cato. "Something like that," both brothers answered in unison. They decided not to explain their backstory to the village leader, as it would probably be too difficult for him to understand.

"The leader of this Empire, the Emperor, is the one who rules over this land," Cato said. "What's gonna surprise you two more is that he's only a child."

"A child?" Both brothers exclaimed.

Cato nodded. "But it's not as easy as it sounds. His prime minister is the one controlling the Empire from the shadows, rotting it with corruption and making it a living hell for the people." Looks of shock appeared on the brothers.

"Brother," Al said turning to Ed. "That sounds just like…"

"I know Al," Ed interrupted before thinking to himself. _It's just like Fuhrer Bradley when he was Dante's puppet so that she could obtain the Philosopher's Stone for immortality._

"Well well, ain't this a fine little party," a voice called out from behind Cato. A look of irritation appeared on the village leader's face, and he rocketed up from the table to turn around facing an Asian-looking man with a long black beard in a silver suit and gold necktie, accompanied by two soldiers in white military uniforms.

"What do you want Yoku?" Cato demanded.

"No need to play stupid Cato. It's that time of the month for you and your village to pay your taxes to the Empire," Yoku retorted. "I warned you last time what would happen if you didn't pay it in full." Cato trembled and just stood in silence glaring at the ground with his fists balled up tightly. "So it seems you won't again. Men!"

"Sir," the soldier answered standing at attention.

"Execute each of these villagers one by one," Yoku ordered, and stared at Cato with a menacing smile. "As for you Cato. I think I'll spare your wife once I'm finished with your lowlife villagers, and keep her nice and comfortable with me."

Cato's wife who was standing directly behind her husband clutched on to him tightly at hearing the tax collector's words. "Honey," she said quietly.

"I won't let these bastards touch you," Cato assured her. However, Edward and Alphonse stepped in front of the couple before the village leader could make another move. Yoku laughed at the brothers' appearance.

"This is laughable. Instead of manning up to face me personally, you're sending in a teenager and a kid to take your place?" Yoku asked with a smug tone.

"I think you're making a big mistake on underestimating what these two are made of," chuckled Cato, which ticked off the tax collector.

"Get them," ordered Yoku at the top of his lungs. The soldiers charged at the brothers with their swords drawn.

"Brother, I'll take the right one, you take the left," Alphonse said as he charged at his target.

"Don't need to tell me twice," Ed replied as he transmuted his arm into a blade while charging at the soldier on the left. The soldier swung his sword down at the older alchemist, but Ed was quick to block the attack. Ed deflected the sword and ducked as the soldier swung again, but the pathetic swing of the soldier left him wide open for Ed to drive his blade into his chest. Blood spewed from the soldier's body and fell on his back.

As Alphonse and the other soldier charged at each other, the young alchemist clasped his hands together and grabbed the sides of the sword just as the soldier prepared to swing at him, transmuting the metal on the weapon into a gigantic hammer that was too heavy for the soldier for to lift.

"What in the hell are you two?" The soldier asked Al with fear in his voice as he witnessed the brothers' alchemy in action, unsure of what it was. In a panic, he ran in the opposite direction away from Al.

"You're not getting away coward," Ed yelled chasing after the soldier. The older alchemist then jumped in the air, proceeding to dive down at the soldier and finished him off with his blade going through his neck. Ed pulled the blade out of the soldier's neck and transmuted his arm back to normal.

"I can't believe you finished off those two soldiers with ease," Cato said to the brothers. "It's like they weren't even trying to fight you."

"Eh, we've face more challenging enemies," Ed boasted turning to the village leader. He then looked around to find that Yoku was nowhere to be seen. "Hey! Where did that bastard tax collector run off too?"

"He must have run off while we were watching your fight," Cato answered.

"I think I saw him running off into the forest that way," one of the villagers followed up, pointing to his left.

Ed took off as soon as the villager pointed out the direction. "He's not getting away," the older alchemist said to himself. "He's seen both Al's face and mine! If I just let him go, pretty soon we'll be on wanted posters with the Empire chasing our asses!"

* * *

 _Elsewhere in the forest_

Elsewhere ahead in the forest, Yoku ran as fast as he could despite his fancy silver suit slowing him down. _Those two brothers, they're monsters!_ Yoku thought as fear began to cloud over him. _Whatever that weird magic they're using is, I must warn the Emperor about it!_

Behind him, electrical waves traveled along the ground until they caught up to Yoku. The tax collector tripped, falling on his stomach, and looked behind at his feet to see that the ground had somehow caught a hold of them. He struggled to lift his feet but was unable to. "Shit! One of them must be getting close."

"You mean one of them is here?" The terrified tax collector turned ahead, looking upward to see Edward towering above him, his clothes and blade stained with blood of his personal soldiers as the older alchemist stared down with cold eyes. "You're finished now."

"Wait! Please spare me," Yoku pleaded with the alchemist. "I'll give into any demands you want. I'll lower the village's taxes! I can supply them with a year's worth of food! Just anything but…" The tax collector was cut off as Edward pierced his back, cutting through to his heart and his life ended.

Edward slowly pulled his blade out from the tax collector's dead body and swiped his blade; splattering the blood onto the grass. "Like hell I would ever negotiate with a piece of shit like you," the older alchemist muttered under his breath as he transmuted his automail back to normal. "If this Empire is really as corrupt as Cato says it is, then I know what Al and I must do. We're gonna take it on, and every single corrupt insider along with it!"

* * *

 _Several minutes later in the village_

The older alchemist walked back into the village, his hands in his pockets, and without a look of worry on his face as if his killing of Yoku had never occurred. "Brother!" Alphonse called out as he ran up to his older brother, looking a bit worried from some of the blood on his clothes. "Are you okay? Did you ever find that tax collector?"

"Let's say that he won't be robbing this village or any other of their livelihoods," Ed answered.

"So you're saying you killed Yoku?" Cato answered.

Ed gave a simple nod. "His body is way out in the forest, so his body will either long be decayed or eaten by some Danger Beast before anybody finds him."

"Makes sense," agreed Cato. "Some of the villagers took those two soldiers you killed and are burying them deep in the forest to do the same. Thanks for saving our village again guys."

"Anytime," the Elric Brothers said in unison.

"There's also something I've been meaning to ask you," the village leader said. "What kind of magic did you use to take those soldiers and Yoku down?"

"It's actually science," Al answered. "We're alchemists."

"You mean people who use alchemy?" One of the villagers asked. "I thought that kind of stuff was a myth, so this is the first time I've ever seen a person use it."

"Well where my brother and I are from, alchemy is pretty common," the younger alchemist responded.

"Well that's something," Cato said amused. He then noticed Edward yawning. "I can tell you're tired already Edward. How would you and your brother like to stay the night with my wife and me?"

"Y-you serious?" Ed exclaimed surprised by the offer.

"Of course he is," Cato's wife said as she walked up beside her husband with a smile. "The heroes of the hour do need their rest."

"Then we accept," Ed responded. "But I don't think Al and I can step inside your house yet for… Well. Obvious reasons." The older alchemist of course was referring to the blood on his clothes. Al also had blood on his clothes, but not as much as his older brother.

"That's no problem. We have a place outback where you can wash your clothes," Cato's wife assured Ed.

* * *

 _A little while later_

After the Elric Brothers washed their clothes, they dried them using their alchemy and proceeded to wash themselves from the blood and stench after the long day they had experienced. The two were lying on small mattresses that were in the living room that had been placed there by Cato's wife. Both of them stared up at the dark ceiling as they covered themselves with blankets provided for them.

"Brother," Al asked. "Are you asleep yet?"

(Sigh) "Nope," Ed answered back. "I can still feel some of the adrenaline from earlier pumping through me. Let's try to sleep as much as we can. It's been a hell of a day for both of us after everything we witnessed."

"Sure thing," Al replied yawning as he closed his eyes.


	3. Chapter 3: (Do Not) Kill the Intruders?

_Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revolutionary Assassins_

Chapter 3: (Do Not) Kill the Intruders?

 **Disclaimer:** ** _Fullmetal Alchemist_** **is owned by Hiromu Arakawa, and** ** _Akame ga Kill_** **is owned by Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro.**

* * *

After a long night of sleep, Edward and Alphonse woke up late in the morning to get ready to depart to wherever the brothers were planning to head, getting dressed in their clean clothes, and Ed transmuting a new pair of white gloves to wear. Cato along with the whole village gathered to bid them farewell. "We just like to say thanks once again for all that you two have done for our village," Cato said to the brothers.

"It's the best we could do," Ed replied with a small chuckle. "But are you sure and everyone else here will be okay once we leave? I mean, killing that tax collector and his soldiers isn't gonna make you less poor or bring in more food into your village."

"We'll find a way to survive," Cato said. "After all, we take care of our own."

"No. You and your village have done a lot for bringing us in and treating us like family. We must try to give back to you somehow," Al interfered. He then turned towards his older brother to see him looking around. "Brother?"

"I got it," the older alchemist exclaimed. In a couple of minutes, Ed had gathered a bunch of grass that he had pulled from the ground and made a huge pile of it in the center of the village. "Stand back everyone." Ed clasped his hands together and planted them on the ground, and a bright light was emitted as electrical discharge surrounded the pile. When the light finally died down, the villagers looked on in awe as the pile of grass had turned into a pile of bread loafs. "How is this as a parting gift?"

"Wow. That's the fastest I have ever seen anyone make bread," a villager exclaimed.

"Come now. You didn't think that alchemy was only used for fighting did you?" Ed bragged with a grin.

"You should also take this with you," Cato intruded and tossed a bag at Ed. The older brother caught the bag and opened it up, with Al taking a peek.

"Gold coins?" The brothers questioned in unison as they stared at the filled up bag.

"It must have belonged to Yoku," Cato explained. "Bastard probably dropped it when he ran into the forest like a coward."

"Brother and I just want to say thanks again for everything," Al said. The brothers then turned around to depart.

"Just one more thing you two," Cato called out. "Seeing the way you two fought and killed Yoku and his men, I think you have potential on using your skills to fight the Empire. The Revolutionary Army could be the place for that kind of thing."

"The Revolutionary Army?" Ed questioned.

Cato nodded. "They are a rebel group located somewhere far south of the Capital. I'm not fully sure of their numbers, but I heard they have grown in size and fully dedicated in overthrowing the Emperor and this corrupt government. However, if you want to take out more high ranking bastards like Yoku, then you might fit better in Night Raid."

* * *

 _About half an hour later_

Ed and Al had been walking for some time since leaving the village, but still could not figure out where they were in the Empire. They did not even come across one person along the road either. Neither of the brothers talked much during that time until Al decided to end the silence. "Hey brother. I wonder what this Night Raid group is like."

"From what Cato told us, they're a small group of skilled assassins acting as a faction of the Revolutionary Army who handle assassinations of well known elites in the Empire's capital, doing most of their work as their name suggests, at night," Ed reiterated. "He also said that they could be recognized by an insignia with an owl and moon. And this has been getting me thinking."

"You don't mean..."

"Yep. We're going to find Night Raid and seek their help to help us fight the Empire," the older alchemist declared. "So let's not waste precious time."

"But we don't know where they are located," the younger alchemist intruded. "They are criminals according to the Empire along with the Revolutionary Army."

"Which means they keep whatever base of operations they have hidden to avoid being detected," said Ed as he scratched his chin. Unknown to the brothers as they were walking, a mysterious figure watched them from the trees with wire threads coming from a pair of gloves with metallic fingertips the figure was wearing. The threads retracted back into the figure's fingertips and dashed away quickly deep into the forest.

* * *

 _Unknown location_

"Boss. I just spotted two unknown people near our hideout," reported a young man with green hair, a green jacket, and a pair of red goggles. He was directing his attention to a woman with short white hair who appeared to be somewhere in her twenties, an eyepatch over her right eye, and a large mechanical right arm.

"Tell me more Lubbock," the boss said. "Did they appear to be part of the Empire's military?"

"Negative," Lubbock answered. "They weren't wearing any military uniforms. One of the two figures was a blonde teenager wearing a red coat, and the other appeared to be a brown hair kid wearing the same coat as him."

"There could be a fifty-fifty chance that these two are either imperial spies or normal civilians," the boss with the white hair explained. "I've never ordered this before, but I want those two to be brought here for interrogation. You are not to kill them at any costs. Understand?"

"Yes boss," the green hair man answered. "But it's very unusual for you to order capturing someone instead of killing them."

"If the two people you capture do turn out to be imperial spies," the boss replied as she took out a cigarette and lit it, inhaled on the cigarette and blew out smoke from her mouth. "Then you have my permission to kill them. Leone!" Listening to the conversation behind Lubbock was a busty blonde hair woman in her early twenties with short hair and two long bangs, wearing a revealing black tube top, pants, boots, and a scarf. "I want you and Lubbock to retrieve these two strangers and bring them here by yourselves."

"Woohoo," the busty blonde cheered. "Time for another mission. If these strangers put up a good fight, that'll make me super pumped!"

"Don't you think we should bring Akame along with us?" Lubbock asked.

"If she went along went you, then the whole point of bringing them here 'alive' would be pointless," the boss answered. Lubbock nodded in agreement. He decided not to ask any more questions and nodded at Leone to signal them to head out.

* * *

 _Back in the forest_

The Elric Brothers continued to walk through the forest. Ed looked up at the sky and covered his eyes as the light of the sun beamed down on his face. "It's already midday and we still can't find a single person to help us out. I feel like we're wasting our time!"

"Brother," Al interrupted.

"Yeah yeah, I know Al. We should have asked the villagers for a damn map."

"I was actually going to ask something else," the younger alchemist clarified. "How did we end up in this place through the Gate if there was no transmutation circle here?"

"I'm still trying to find an answer for that too," Ed answered. "Why we're here and not in Germany, ugh!" The older alchemist frantically scratched his head until a hypothesis came up in his head. "You know what? There might be an explanation."

"What brother?"

"As I way flying through the Gate, I kept seeing these random images flashing in front of me. They appeared to be images of bloodshed, and several people's faces showed up," the older alchemist explained. "I couldn't get a good look at what most of them looked like, but there was one person's face that kept reappearing at certain points. A girl."

"A girl?" Wondered Al. "Do you remember what she looked like?"

Ed closed his eyes to try and remember as clearly as he could to answer Al. "From what I saw, this girl had long black hair and red eyes. That was pretty much it."

"Maybe those visions were trying to tell you something," Al said. "There's probably a reason why we are here."

"Who knows?" The older alchemist shrugged. His walking pace slowed down as something caught his eye. A giant boulder was blocking the entire dirt road. Ed sighed while clasping his hands, and placed them on the boulder, transmuting it into an arch that went over the road and cleared the path of the brothers. "Why would this have ended up on the road?"

"Ahhh!" Al yelled.

Ed quickly turned around to find Alphonse's whole body wrapped in wire threads, dangling above the road with two ends of the thread tied to two trees across from each other on the road. "Al," the older alchemist shouted.

"I don't know what happened. These strings just came out from nowhere," Al said as he struggled to break free, but the wires were wrapped so tightly around the younger alchemist's body that he could not move his arms or legs. Al spotted something diving downward at Ed from above. "Brother!"

"Hang on Al," Ed shouted, not seeming to get his younger brother's warning. His senses suddenly snapped and he dived forward just as someone's fist slammed into the ground, barely missing Ed. The older alchemist performed a front roll as he landed on the ground and slid his body around to see who had attacked him. His attacker was a busty blonde woman who had long hair and appeared to have animal claws and a tail. "Who the hell are you?"

"I think I should be asking that question," Leone answered with a grin on her face.

"Look! If you're after anything my brother and I have lady, I'm sorry but we don't have a lot on us," pleaded Ed in an agitated tone.

"Oh I don't want your money," Leone exclaimed charging at Ed. She swung her left arm at the older alchemist, but Ed was quick to duck from the woman's sharp claws. As Leone retracted her left arm, he lifted himself up and proceeded to swing back with his right arm. The blonde woman countered by swinging her right arm, landing a hit on the alchemist's arm and knocking him to the ground, scratching his red coat. "Ow!" Leone winced in pain and looked at her right hand, noticing that her attack had chipped off some of the ends of her claws. "What the hell did I hit?"

Ed jumped up and clasped his hands to transmute a metal halberd from the ground, surprising the blonde woman who was still trying to figure out why her claws were chipped. "Shouldn't have let your guard down," the alchemist exclaimed as he charged at the woman. Leone regained her attention to focus on the alchemist grabbing the pole of the weapon with her right hand, easily snapping it in half. "What?" The alchemist then felt a powerful pain in his stomach as the woman slammed her left fist into him.

"Now it's time for you to take a nap," said Leone. The blonde woman karate chopped the back of Ed's neck, and he fell to the ground unconscious.

"Brother," Al shouted as he saw the blonde knock his older brother out. The younger brother immediately saw Leone jump towards him at lightning speed, scaring him.

"Looks like you need a nap too," Leone purred towards the younger alchemist, karate chopping his neck as well.

As Alphonse felt the pain sting in his neck, his vision began to blur. He tried to lift his head to get a glimpse of Ed as he laid face down on the road. "Brother," he said weakly before everything turned to black.

* * *

 _Some unknown time later_

Alphonse groaned weakly as he tried to move. Last he remembered, the strange blonde woman with the animal ears and tail knocked him and Edward unconscious. He slowly opened his eyes, only to see that his world around him was still black. "Brother?"

"A-Alphonse?" A weak voice spoke. Al recognized it as his brother's. "Where are you?"

"I can hear you brother, but I can't see you," Al responded. "Where are we? What did that cat lady do to us?"

"She and I brought you two back here," answered an unknown male's voice.

"Who's there?" Ed answered. "I can't see a goddamn thing! Show yourselves!" The older alchemist unexpectedly got his request answered as his blacked out vision became bright. Ed winced as his eyes adjusted to the brightness. Standing in front of him young man with green hair. To his right was the blonde woman from before who had knocked Al and him unconscious; only her animal ears, tail, and claws were gone. Ed then looked below to see he was tied with rope to a chair, as well as Al.

"Well aren't you two just cute," Leone said to the brothers as she bent down in front of them to get a better look at them. She then redirected her attention to Ed. "Especially you." As she bent down in front of the older alchemist, Ed's eyes widened and dropped his jaw at just how close and huge Leone's breasts were. "Hey pal. I'm up here." Ed's attention was redirected back at the blonde woman's face.

"What do you want with us?" Ed answered.

"I think we should be ones asking the questions," Lubbock said. "What were you two doing so close to our base?"

"Base? We don't know about any base around here," shouted Ed, trying to convince the two he was telling the truth. The older alchemist then looked up at a giant red banner on the wall in front of him that had some kind of bird on a yellow circle. He gasped at the sight of it, realizing what the emblem was. "The symbol of the owl and moon. So you must be Night Raid!"

"So these are the guys you captured?" A female voice asked. The Elric Brothers turned their heads around to see three more people entering the room. The first person who entered the room was a short girl with pink hair tied into two twintails, pink eyes, and a matching long pink dress. The second person was another girl, slightly older than the first one, who had long purple hair, purple eyes that were covered by a pair of glasses, and wore a long purple dress. Following behind her was a tall muscular man with blue eyes, an unusual heart-shaped pompadour hairstyle, a black shirt covered by a black jacket donned by green plated shoulders and chest armor, along with white pants and black boots. The three gathered alongside their companions standing in front of the brothers.

 _For some reason, these guys look familiar. I don't know why. But…_ "I take it the rest of you are part of Night Raid?" Ed asked. The moment he opened his mouth, the pink hair girl pulled out a strange type of rifle and pointed in his face, making both brothers freak out.

"All right! No more playing around! Just who the hell are you two, and how do you know about us?" The pink hair girl demanded.

"Get that thing out of my face first," the older alchemist screamed.

"Not until you give answers," the pink hair girl demanded again, cocking her rifle.

"We were told about you guys and the Revolutionary Army," Ed answered with panic in his voice. "My younger brother and I have been walking all day trying to find you guys for help. We swear we're not affiliated with this Empire that rules over you!"

"Then explain this," Lubbock intruded as he pulled out the villagers' bag of coins from his jacket.

"That was a gift for us," Alphonse answered deciding to use this moment to defend him and his older brother. "We saved a village from this greedy man named Yoku."

"Wait a minute," spoke the tall muscular man with the unusual hairstyle. "You're referring to the tax collector Yoku correct?"

"That's right. I killed him and two soldiers accompanying him," Ed said.

"Dammit," Leone pouted. "He was supposed to be our next target to assassinate. I really wanted to smash that smug greedy bastard's face in with my claws!"

"That's just like you as always Leone," the purple hair girl said to her friend with a smile on her face.

"Still," the pink hair girl intruded. "How do we know you're not lying to save your ass?"

"They're not lying Mine," another voice answered, resulting in the pink hair girl lowering her weapon.

Edward turned his head around to see a beautiful girl about his age enter the room. The girl had long raven hair, red eyes, a black sleeveless mini dress, modest bust, white collar, red necktie, long black socks, black shoes, and a red belt with a sword holstered on her left side. The older alchemist's face widened with shock.

 _Impossible,_ Ed exclaimed in his thoughts. _It's the girl I saw in my visions from the Gate! I thought those were figments of my imagination, but she is real! And these guys, I also saw them in my visions too. How is this happening?_

"You okay?" The red-eyed girl asked as she stepped in front of Edward.

"I-I'm fine," stuttered the older alchemist. "Have we met before?"

The girl tilted her head up and down as she examined Ed. "Nope. I've never seen you before."

"Sorry for asking," Ed apologized. "I swear I've seen you somewhere before, including your friends here." The red-eyed girl gave off a deadpan look on her face, though some of the other Night Raid members were caught by surprise from Ed's remarks. "Uh, back on topic. How do you know we weren't lying?"

"I could just tell," the girl answered bluntly.

"Yep. Akame can see right through anybody and sense if they're telling the truth or not," Leone said. "Oh! I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Leone, and the guy who was with me when we captured you is Lubbock."

"Yo," the young man with the green hair waved.

"Likewise," Ed said. "You think you can untie my younger brother and I from these chairs?"

"Since you two are clean, sure," Lubbock answered and untied both brothers. The brothers stretched to relieve their muscles after being tied up for quite a while, and rubbed the back of their necks from the pain Leone put there after karate chopping them unconscious.

"Also, sorry for knocking you two out," Leone apologized. "I wanted to make sure you guys didn't know the location of our hideout." She paused for a second and them came up with an idea. "Hey! I was really impressed with your fighting earlier. How would you and your little bro like to join Night Raid?" The blonde hair woman's question shocked the Elric Brothers and her fellow Night Raid comrades.

"What?" The brothers exclaimed at the request.

"Yep. You get to become full time assassins like us," exclaimed Leone.

"Hold on a minute," Ed replied trying to better understand the situation. "We were only gonna approach you guys to ask for help. Joining you never crossed our minds."

"Aww you're undecided. Sheele," Leone said to the purple hair girl. "Please give our guests some motivation."

"Sure," Sheele responded as she adjusted her glasses with a deadpan expression. "If you two don't join us, we'll kill you." The faces on both of the brothers turned extremely pale.

"Oh I'm definitely motivated now," mumbled Ed with a tone of sarcasm.

"There's no need for that to happen," said an older woman in her mid twenties with short white hair, an eyepatch, and large mechanical right arm as she walked into the room. "However, we just won't let you two go freely since we brought you to our hideout, and you may have to work as servants."

"Well that's a relief miss," Ed said as he pale face turned back to its normal color, including Al's. "Though we still would like for us to tell you about whether we're qualified or not."

"You fought them Leone. What do you think?" The older woman asked.

"The little guy was captured easily, but this one here put up quite a fight. I even saw him make a weapon from just touching the ground with his hands," Leone answered.

"She gave her verdict," the older woman said toward Ed. "What do you say?"

Ed looked down as the members of Night Raid including Al looked at him. His mind was swirling coming up with the right words to say. "To tell you truth, my brother and I aren't ones to kill other people," he answered. "I've killed very few people in my life, but those were either done in self defense or in defense of someone else. Killing out of justice or revenge were never my calling cards. You may think you're doing some kind of good, but murder is still murder and I've never seen the justice in doing it. But after killing that tax collector, I felt some sort of pleasure out of it. It likely has to do with all that I've heard about this corrupt Empire." Silence fell throughout the room for a moment. "Regardless of the consequences of facing judgment day by getting captured or killed in the future, I'll join you!"

"And I'll join too," Al said.

The older alchemist glanced at his younger brother with surprise. "Alphonse, are you serious?"

"Yes brother. You and I have been through so much. So I've made the decision to fight alongside you here. As for me ma'am, I may not look like it, but I'm a pretty good fighter too," the younger alchemist explained.

"Then it's settled," the older woman said. "I welcome you two to Night Raid! Also, I'm the leader of the group, Najenda." The woman stretched out her right mechanical arm to shake Ed's hand, and he responded by stretching out his right arm to shake back, followed by Al.

"You can't be serious," Mine exclaimed. "That's it? You're just gonna accept these two? Until I see some fighting action from you boys, you're nothing but small talk to me!"

Edward immediately became irked at one certain word coming from the pink hair girl. **"Who the hell are you calling a pipsqueak so small that he can fit through a rabbit hole little girl?"**

 **"** **What the hell? I never said anything about your height,"** shouted Mine. **"And I'm not little, I'm sixteen you jerk who's shorter than Bulat!"**

 **"** **Micro pinky!"**

 **"** **Stunted bird brain!"**

Edward suddenly has his jacket pulled by Leone. "Don't let Mine get to you. She's like that with everybody." Ed and Mine glared at each other for a moment, before Ed turn away in annoyance. Mine responded by pulling down her right eyelid with her middle finger while sticking out her tongue. "Oh before I forget. How about you introduce yourselves?"

"All right then," said the older alchemist with a smile, his head having cooled enough. "My name is Edward Elric."

"And I'm his younger brother, Alphonse Elric," the young brown hair boy said.

"Well then Edward and Alphonse, welcome to Night Raid," Leone exclaimed. She turned to her fellow comrades next. "How about you guys introduce yourselves?"

"Certainly," Sheele said as she walked up to brothers. "I'm Sheele, and… Gaah!" The purple hair girl tripped, causing her glasses to fall off. "Oh shoot. My glasses, my glasses." The girl touched everywhere on the floor surrounding her trying to find her glasses, but failed to see they had landed at Al's feet.

"Here you go," Al said as he picked up the glasses and handed them to Sheele. As the purple hair girl looked up at Al, the younger alchemist couldn't help but blush at bit at how cute she looked without her glasses. She took them without saying a word and adjusted them back on her face.

"Looks like you two already know Sheele, Lubbock, the boss, Mine, and myself by now," Leone said. "So this is Akame."

"Pleasure," Akame said as she gave a small bow to the Elric Brothers.

"Guess that leaves me," the tall muscular man followed up. "The name's Bulat."

"Yeah. Nice to meet you," Ed said as he shook Bulat's hand.

"Head's up Ed. He's gay," Leone told the older brother.

"Hey now. He'll get the wrong idea. Right?" Bulat asked as he blushed.

Ed gulped when he saw the taller man blush. _He's totally not in the closet_ , he thought. Whatever thoughts the older alchemist had popped when he heard his stomach growl.

"Sounds to me like you're hungry," Bulat said.

"Akame's finished up with cooking dinner," Najenda announced to everyone before turning towards the Elric Brothers. "We'll discuss more about you two afterwards."

"Sure," both brothers exclaimed, following the rest of Night Raid into the kitchen.


	4. Chapter 4: Kill the Explanation

_Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revolutionary Assassins_

Chapter 4: Kill the Explanation

 **Disclaimer:** ** _Fullmetal Alchemist_** **is owned by Hiromu Arakawa, and** ** _Akame ga Kill_** **is owned by Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro.**

* * *

Night Raid had gathered in the kitchen for dinner along with Edward and Alphonse Elric, the assassin group's newest members. Akame had cooked a large meal for the group, which was mostly meat she had hunted herself. After dinner, the group gathered in the living room to hear more about their mysterious new members.

"So tell me you two. I'm curious to know what kind of fighting you're skilled with," Najenda said to the brothers. "Especially you Edward. Leone said earlier that you created a weapon from the ground by just touching it."

"That's right," Ed answered. "The skill I used was a science, alchemy. It's pretty common in my world."

"Did you just say you're from another world?" Akame asked. The rest of Night Raid was surprised by Ed's answer.

"Yes. I don't know how to explain it, but I'm not from this country or anywhere else outside of the Empire," the older alchemist responded. "But to get back on point, alchemy is a science centered about comprehension, deconstruction, and reconstruction. I can show you, but I need a piece of chalk first."

"Here," Najenda exclaimed as she tossed a small piece of chalk. Edward caught it quickly and nodded in response to thank her.

The older alchemist then bent down to draw two circles and two squares patterned inside of each other "What I'm drawing is the main source of an alchemist's power, a transmutation circle." Ed proceeded to plant his hands on the edge of the circle. The circle gave off a bright light as blue electrical discharge swirled from it. A spear rose up from the ground. Ed stood up and grabbed the spear to show his creation. Najenda, Leone, Sheele, Lubbock, Akame, Mine, and Bulat stood in awe at what they had witnessed.

"That's incredible," shouted Lubbock in amazement. "You can make anything with alchemy?"

"Pretty much," Alphonse answered.

"But like all sciences, alchemy follows certain rules," Ed continued explaining. "To obtain something, you have to give up something of equal value. This is the first law of equivalent exchange." Ed noticed that the rest of Night Raid was put off by his lecture.

Al decided to step in to explain to the group. "To put it in simple terms, it's an equation. What you put out has to be of equal mass with what you started. The base elements also need to be similar."

"I think it makes sense," Bulat said. "The ground here in the living room is made of stone carved from the cliff our base is hidden under, and that's how you were able to obtain the materials to make that spear." Ed nodded in agreement.

"Still I'm curious. How were you able to make a weapon without this transmutation circle when we fought?" Questioned Leone.

Ed set the spear beside the wall. "I was just about to get to that. There's a dark side of alchemy that's forbidden to be practiced by alchemists. Human transmutation. Trying to bring people back from the dead. Al and I attempted this once, and we failed." The older alchemist slipped off the glove from his right hand, and then removed his coat. "Pay close attention, because this is the punishment an alchemist receives for trying to play God." He revealed his automail arm, pulling up the sleeve to further show the scars on his shoulder.

The members of Night Raid looked on in horror at Ed's arm. Probably the most horrified was Akame, unaware to the rest of the group. While she was mostly a calm person who had barely showed any emotion earlier, tears from the raven hair girl's red eyes began to develop. The red-eyed assassin quickly wiped away her tears before somebody could notice them. She and the others watched on as Ed rolled up the left side of his pants, showing that his left leg was also made of metal.

"When Al and I were kids, our dad left us alone with our mother," continued Ed. "She died when I was ten and he was nine. We decided we weren't going to live alone without her. A year after mom died, we found a teacher to help us train to improve our alchemy, and that's when we did it. I lost my left leg, Al lost his entire body, and I brought his soul back attaching it to a suit of armor by sacrificing my right arm. My ability to perform alchemy without a circle is the direct result of that."

"That must have been painful," Sheele said to Ed.

"It was worse than how you described it Sheele," the older alchemist replied. "I joined the military in my country to become a State Alchemist in order to find a way to get our bodies back. We learned of a rare object called the Philosopher's Stone that we thought could by pass the laws of equivalent exchange, and use it to become normal again. The stone, unfortunately, wasn't what we thought it was. To make a stone, required the sacrifices of live human beings." The other Night Raid members were more horrified at Ed's story.

"How could such terrible things be done? And you were a member of your country's military?" Najenda asked.

The older alchemist nodded. "From where I from, Amestris, it was just as corrupt with lies and murder like this Empire here. Our leader, who we called Fuhrer King Bradley, was nothing more than a puppet to a woman who wanted the stone all for her to become immortal, and he did this by starting several massacres to create the stone."

"So the place you and your brother are from is no different from here," Akame stated with a sad tone in her voice.

"You said Al lost his body," said Mine. "So how is he here with you now?"

That was when Alphonse decided to answer the pink hair girl's question. "We found the Philosopher's Stone after someone we were tracking down made one, and he attached it to the inside of my armor. I was soon captured and was preparing to be used by the woman who wanted it for herself. Brother tried to save me, but he got killed, and I used the stone to sacrifice my soul to bring him back to life. In exchange, I was taken back to the Gate, but he then sacrificed his mind, body, and soul to bring all of me back. When I came back, I was the same way I was the day we tried to bring back mom, but I had no memories of the years we journeyed together to find the stone."

"And what happened to you Ed?" Mine asked the older alchemist.

"When I brought back Al from the Gate, I was taken to a country in another world called Germany. I spent the next two years trying to find a way to get back home. I eventually did, and Al and I…"

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Najenda said. "But you keep mentioning this place called 'the Gate.' Where or what exactly is it?"

"It's not a physical place in this world," Ed answered. "Whenever an alchemist performs a human transmutation, they're brought before it to face the truth sacrificing something from their body as a toll, and bombarded with all the knowledge of alchemy, which is also why I can perform alchemy without a circle. It also serves as a portal between worlds. When Al and I passed back through the Gate to close it in Germany, we ended up here somehow, with Al regaining his memories in the process. And that's pretty much it."

There was a long silence that lasted for about ten minutes, as the members of Night Raid were still taking in all of what the brothers had told them. The amount of raw emotion and detail put into their story was so powerful that it made each of the members' pasts feel somewhat insignificant. Akame became the person to break the silence.

"I believe what you two are saying," the red-eyed girl said to the brothers surprising them. "From the way you two told your story, you must have been through a lot of pain and suffering trying to achieve your goal."

"Yes Akame," Ed said to her. "And I know that Al and I may have to go through it some more if we're gonna take down this Empire together with you."

 _These guys sure have some guts. I'll have to see what they're made of in the days to come_ , thought Bulat. "Yo Edward. I'm curious to know. About your arm and leg I mean. What kind of prosthetics do you have on?"

The older alchemist lifted his right arm. "Oh these? They aren't prosthetics Bulat. It's automail. I can move my arm and leg like any other normal part on my body, making it more versatile than standard prosthetics." Ed demonstrated by moving his fingers to flex them. He then took off his left shoe and sock to move his toes. "Both of them are connected to the nerves on my body, and it was a very painful experience to get them attached." The members of Night Raid were amazed.

"So that's what I hit when I swung at you during our fight," Leone exclaimed.

"Right. Sorry about your claws too," Ed responded, recalling that she had chipped them when she hit his automail.

"No worries," the blonde woman said scratching her head with a smile.

"This workmanship is spectacular," Najenda said astonished at Ed's arm and leg. "It seems more durable than what I have for a right arm. Who made these?"

"My childhood friend Winry did," Ed answered. "She's always been there to do maintenance on them and accompanied us on some of our adventures. Of course without her here, I'm gonna have to be extra careful not to break them, otherwise she'd hit me upside the head with her wrench."

 _"_ _That's because you're so reckless when getting into fights Edward,"_ Winry screamed in Ed's mind.

Edward and Alphonse chuckled together at the thought of their blonde childhood friend banging her wrench upside the older alchemist's head. Their laughter was then replaced by sadness as Winry came up in their minds again. "We never got to properly say goodbye to Winry brother," Al said. "I wonder what she's doing right now, and if she's thinking about us."

"Well you know how she is Al. She's likely working on automail to ease her mind," the older alchemist said.

"As for yours brother, I think I can handle it."

"Since when do you know anything about repairing or making automail?" Questioned Ed with a raised eyebrow.

"Quite a bit," answered Al. "Winry taught me whenever I wasn't busy trying to improve my alchemy with teacher."

"If my arm or leg do break down, then you'll have to show me what you got," Ed said.

"You two also have to show us what you got whenever we have a mission to assassinate someone," Najenda said before turning to the raven hair girl. "Akame. I'm placing Ed and Al with you to be their personal trainer."

"Sure thing boss," Akame said.

"We're working with her?" Al asked.

"That's right," the white hair woman replied. "Also, you're free to kill them if you feel like they're slacking off." Akame nodded, causing the Elric Brothers to panic at hearing their boss's words and Akame's quick approval, cowering into a corner of the living room holding each other tightly.

"Relax. I'm not going to hurt you," Akame assured the brothers.

"Uh Ms. Najenda," Edward said as he got up from the corner. "With all due respect, I don't think that's necessary. I'll admit that I have been a bit rusty in my fighting for the past two years, but I can improve quickly."

"Me too," followed up Alphonse. "Whoever we will be fighting against will probably be stronger than anyone brother and I faced before, so we can't just improve our alchemy, but our physical strength as well."

"You shouldn't have to worry about me cutting you down then," Akame said with a small smile. She then extended her right arm towards the brothers, surprising them. Al was the first to shake her hand, and Ed followed. As soon as Akame hand touched the older alchemist's automail hand, a small blush appeared on her face. Ed also blushed as they stared deeply into each other's eyes. "Edward?"

Ed gulped, snapping back to his senses. "Y-yes?"

There was another pause before Akame pulled out a roasted bird leg. "You want some meat?"

"Sure," Ed quickly answered and took the bird leg.

* * *

 _Later that night_

After Night Raid was dismissed for the night, Ed and Al were shown to their bedrooms. They were only five rooms apart from each other in the hallway their rooms were in. Ed sat on his bed looking up at the window in front of him. The older alchemist got up and slowly walked towards the window, looking outside as the moon was shining down, along with countless stars in the skies. He had not looked up into a night sky as clear and bright as this one since the time he and Al, along with Major Alex Louis Armstrong, visited Resembool to get his automail arm fixed after it got destroyed in the brothers first confrontation with Scar.

The door opened, and Alphonse stepped in. "Are you still awake brother?"

"Yep," the older alchemist answered.

"What happens to us now?"

"You already know the answer Alphonse. We're going to be assassins from here on out. Fighting against and taking back another country that's just as dirty as the last one we lived in. This is our home, now. This is where we belong, and we have to do our part," explained Ed with a smile as he looked at his younger brother. Al nodded in agreement with a smile of determination.

"I better get to sleep brother," Al said. "The training Akame will give us may have surprises."

"Right. Goodnight Alphonse."

"Goodnight brother."

Al closed the door as he left the room, leaving Ed alone to continue looking outside the window.


	5. Chapter 5: Kill the Training

_Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revolutionary Assassins_

Chapter 5: Kill the Training

 **Disclaimer:** ** _Fullmetal Alchemist_** **is owned by Hiromu Arakawa, and** ** _Akame ga Kill_** **is owned by Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro.**

 **The Story So Far: The Elric Brothers, Edward and Alphonse, find themselves in a brand new world they discover is filled with corruption and murder under the rule of an kid emperor manipulated by his prime minister. Both seek to fight against the Empire together, but they cannot do it alone. They decide to seek the help of the assassin group, Night Raid, only to unexpectedly become its new members. Edward and Alphonse quickly befriend Akame, Leone, Mine, Lubbock, Sheele, Bulat, and their leader Najenda. After explaining their backstory, the brothers are put under the guidance of Akame, who was assigned to train them to prepare for any future missions. But what lies in store for the brothers?**

* * *

Edward was sleeping comfortable and soundly in his bed, the blanket tightly wrapped around his body to keep himself as warm as possible. His body then shook, but he dismissed as nothing.

"Edward," a voice softly spoke.

"Not now Alphonse," mumbled Ed as he wrapped the blanked tighter around him.

"Edward," the voice spoke again, though only a little bit louder. The older alchemist's body shook again, and this did Ed finally open his eyes a little. He looked to his left to see a familiar raven haired girl with red eyes standing at his bedside staring down.

"Ugh. What do you want Akame?" Ed groaned as he rubbed his eyes.

"You're training under me, remember? It's time to get up and start," the assassin said.

"If you say so. What time is it?"

"It's seven in the morning," answered Akame bluntly. The assassin's answer was enough to make Ed widen his eyes waking him completely.

"SEVEN? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" The older alchemist yelled at the top of his lungs. Akame pinched Ed's lips closed with her right thumb and index finger.

"Everybody is still asleep, so keep your voice down," Akame told Ed.

"Sorry," apologized Ed as he tried to speak with his lips still pinched. Akame released her thumb and index finger from the older alchemist's lips.

"Meet me in the courtyard in five minutes," the red-eyed assassin told the older alchemist as she left the room.

Ed wasted no time in quickly putting on his white undershirt white-collar long sleeved shirt, brown pants, socks, boots, and tied up his hair into a straight ponytail. As Ed opened the door to leave, he spotted Alphonse leaning on the wall to his right. "You're up already Alphonse?"

"Sadly yes," the younger alchemist answered while yawning and rubbing his eyes. "I can't believe we're up this early. Even teacher didn't wake us up around this time when she trained us."

"Well Akame isn't teacher," said Ed as he began walking down the hall. "So her training methods are likely gonna be different." Ed looked behind him to see Al shaking with fear as he walked.

"You're right brother. She's not teacher. In fact, what if Akame's secretly worse than teacher? Or perhaps even scarier?" Al's voice's trembled. This made the older brother shake with fear as both began to imagine what kind of torture Akame would put them through. "She may have us jumping through spike traps or some kind of torture."

"I'm worried she will make us get chased by a Earth Dragon," Ed said as a giant sweat drop appeared on his forehead. "Just let her kill me already."

* * *

 _Base courtyard_

Ed and Al sat on the ground on their knees in front of Akame, who was also sitting in the same position as them. The sun was beginning to rise on the three of them. Both brothers looked down with gloom, unprepared for what would be expected from Akame and her training methods. The older alchemist still had the thought of wanting to let Akame kill him rather than going whatever hell was in store.

 _There doesn't seem to be any point in turning back now_ , thought Ed. _Should I choose to die now or take this all head on? No. I choose the latter. I have to._

 _Whatever training Akame has for us, we need to go through it if we want to get strong as assassins,_ the younger alchemist thought.

"All right then," Akame said. "We start with breathing exercises."

The Elric Brothers gave off looks of confusion, and the built up stress vanished from both of them as soon as Akame spoke. "Breathing exercises?" Ed and Al spoke in unison.

"Yes. Every morning I wake up early to prepare mentally for whatever mission will come that day or the next. An assassin must have a clear mind before he or she goes into battle. You cannot have distractions cloud your judgment when fighting an enemy. Any rage or sadness in your heart must be purged," the raven hair assassin explained. "Every target of ours must be shown no mercy, regardless of how much they beg for it. Strike hard and fast, otherwise you'll be one who's cut down." Ed and Al nodded in agreement at Akame's words. She then closed her eyes, slowly inhaling through her nose, and proceeded to exhale through her mouth, and then began to repeat her process.

Both brothers followed and closed their eyes, breathing in and out. The three continued on like this for five minutes. While Alphonse and Akame were perfectly going through the motions, Edward was slightly trembling as he struggled to clear his mind. A vein popped on his head, and his eyes opened suddenly. "Gaah!" The older alchemist suddenly fell on his left side as steam came out of his head. "Can't… sit… still! I'm such a fidgety person." Akame crawled towards the older alchemist and flicked her finger at his forehead.

"You're not clearing your mind," the red-eyed assassin said scolding Ed.

"I'm aware of that," Ed responded rubbing his head. "Having a clear mind hasn't exactly been something for me when fighting. But I gotta try—"

"Don't try," Akame said bluntly. "Just clear your mind. You obviously have something bothering you, so let go of whatever it is." The assassin scooted back to where she was before, closed her eyes, continuing with her exercise.

Ed stared at ground thinking. _Akame is right. I'm worried on how much I'll change if I kill more people,_ he thought. _Will I kill so much to the point of losing my humanity, or become too accustomed to it that it just becomes a normal routine?_ Ed shook his head. _That shouldn't matter right now. Actually, it shouldn't matter at all._ He closed his eyes again, inhaling slowly, followed by a slow exhale. Within a matter of minutes, Ed's worries vanished from his mind immediately.

 **~55 minutes later~**

The rest of the hour went by without any further distractions for Edward, Alphonse, or Akame. "Morning training is done," the red-eyed assassin said. She then lifted herself to her feet, continuing to look down at the brothers who were still on their knees. "Both of you did good for your first day. Edward. You need to improve more on clearing your mind."

"Right," Ed said with a nod, knowing now that Akame had a lot planned for him.

"Everybody else should be waking up right now, so it's time to make breakfast. You two are helping me," she continued.

"I got experience with cooking," spoke Al.

"And I can cook somewhat, so I could use a little assistance," Ed followed up.

"Then follow me," Akame said walking back inside with the brothers following close behind. "After breakfast we will commence the combat portion of our training."

* * *

 _Base Kitchen_

All three assassins were in the kitchen preparing breakfast for the other members of Night Raid. Edward, Alphonse, and Akame were each wearing aprons, though Akame's hair was also tied up in a long ponytail. Ed carried a large bag of oat grains from the pantry, as he would be responsible for making oatmeal.

"Alphonse," Akame said. "Could you go to the freezer at the back of the base to get some meat please?"

"Yes ma'am," Al answered with a bow before walking out of the kitchen, leaving Ed and Akame alone.

"Hey Akame," spoke the older alchemist. "Will Al and I be cooking with you from now on?"

"Yep. I'm solely responsible for cooking the base's meals, and naturally that responsibility falls to you two as well now," explained the raven hair assassin as she ate a grape.

"I take it you're the best with cooking meat?"

Akame nodded. "That's right."

"Well you remember the alchemy teacher I briefly mentioned in my story yesterday? She and her husband owned a butcher shop with tons of meat, and sometimes Al and I would help with the cooking and meat cutting," Ed told Akame as she took a bite out of another grape, not seeming to pay attention to him. "Are you really cooking or just wanting to snack for free?"

"I'm cooking," she answered bluntly with a piercing gaze.

"You're a terrible liar," Ed replied suspiciously before thinking, _She may be good at catching a liar when she sees one, but she's not good at defending a lie like this._

Alphonse came walking back into the kitchen slowly carrying a giant slab of frozen meat over his head. The younger alchemist's knees were bent and trembling from the weight of the meat. "I got the meat you asked for Akame, though I could use a little help before I get crushed." Akame and Ed rushed over to grab the giant meat slab from Al and set it on the kitchen island. Al gave a sigh of relief now that all that weight was released from his body.

Both Al and Akame proceeded to grab butcher knives and cut through the meat. Edward continued with making the oatmeal, pouring the oat grains into a pot filled with milk, followed by pouring some honey. The older alchemist clasped his hands together and placed them on the rim of the pot heating it. Steam began to rise from the pot as the milk churned, and Ed grabbed a nearby wooden spoon and stirred the oatmeal.

 **~Half an hour later~**

Ed finished with the oatmeal, pouring portions of it into nine bowls that were laid out on a long wooden table. Al and Akame were also finished with the meat they had cooked, along with some eggs that were scrambled. "And that should settle it," the older alchemist said.

"Something smells delicious," a cheerful voice chimed in. Leone walked in with the remaining members of Night Raid behind her.

"Good morning Akame," Bulat said with a wave before noticing the brothers. "Whoa! Good morning to you as well Edward and Alphonse. Did you also make breakfast?"

"Uh yeah we did," replied both brothers in unison. Laughter broke out from Mine suddenly.

"Ha ha ha! Akame and the newbies are now housemaids," the pink hair girl exclaimed pointing at Ed and Al. "Those aprons sure suit you well! The kitchen is where you boys belong!"

"Hey shut up," shouted Ed with annoyance. Mine's insult, however, didn't faze Al in anyway, as he only responded with a silent blank facial expression.

"Edward, Alphonse. Let's eat," Akame informed the brothers, wanting to avoid any confrontation from breaking out between the older alchemist and Mine.

Night Raid gathered at the table to eat. Every member of the group enjoyed the breakfast Ed, Al, and Akame made for them. Whenever anyone asked for seconds, Ed would always be the one having to get up to fill up a plate again much to his chagrin, but to the pleasure of Mine who snickered at what she considered the older alchemist's position as a housemaid. All the cooked food was eventually eaten until not a single crumb remained on the plates. It was then time for the Elric Brothers to partake in the combat portion of Akame's training.

Ed was about to step out of the kitchen when he heard, "Edward!" He turned around to see Mine pointing at an untouched glass of milk in the place where he sat. "You forgot to drink your milk." The older alchemist turned away in embarrassment as his face poured with sweat.

"You can have it Mine. I hate milk," muttered Ed.

The pink hair girl's eyes lit up with raging fire, grabbing the glass and shoving it Ed's face. "How can you say that? Milk is good for you!" Ed shoved the glass away from him.

"Get that stuff away from me! I'm not gonna die just because I won't drink it," Ed retorted.

"Milk makes you taller and stronger! How do you think you're as tall as you are now?" Mine asked shoving it back, only for Ed to grab her hand holding the glass to keep it away.

"It just happened okay? And I didn't need to drink a single drop of that white vomit! If you're drinking your milk every single day, why the hell are you still a flat chested midget pinko?" Mine's face became twisted with a dark aura forming around her body.

"Take that back," the pink hair assassin demanded with a sinister tone as she towered over the older alchemist, cocking her strange rifle which she pulled out from nowhere, making Ed tremble with fear.

"Edward. Please drink the milk," Akame said bluntly.

The older alchemist finally let out a ground shaking shout exclaiming, **"I told you I'm not drinking it!"**

Akame turned her attention to Alphonse. "Help me pin him down. We're going to make him drink that milk."

"Aye ma'am," Alphonse said startled. The younger alchemist and Akame knocked Edward to the ground, tightly holding his arms down to prevent him from escaping. Mine added to the weight by straddling his stomach while he was kicking his legs.

"Now shut up and drink your milk Edward," Mine demanded as her band with the glass of milk slowly stretched out towards him.

Ed shook his head with refusal and fear. "No! Please! You can't make me! I won't! **GAAH!** "

* * *

 _Base courtyard_

It was nearly ten in the morning, and the Elric Brothers could feel the sun's ray beginning to get to them. Small sweat droplets formed on both brothers' foreheads, yet they had not begun the next portion of the training. Ed has a look of disgust on his face from the milk incident earlier, smacking his lips and sticking out his tongue trying to get the taste of milk to go away. "Time to put your combat skills to the test," Akame said holding the spear that Ed had transmuted yesterday to show off his alchemy to Night Raid.

Ed snapped to his senses, positioning himself in a fighting stance with Al following him. Both brothers stared at Akame as she twirled the spear with her hands before bending her knees, taking her own fighting stance, pointing the spear at the brothers. The red-eyed assassin ran forward towards Ed, but the older alchemist deflected the sharp end of it with his automail right arm. He took at jab with his left arm, though Akame was quick to grab it with her right hand.

"Don't forget about me," Al exclaimed with a kick attack from the air. Akame blocked the younger alchemist's foot with the pole of the spear. Al jumped back as Ed took a wide swing at Akame, ducking to her right. Both brothers then came at Akame from all angles kicking and swinging, but found it unusually difficult to land a hit on the girl.

 _No matter what I do, Akame just keeps avoiding my punches and kicks like they're nothing_ , Ed thought as he blocked an attack from Akame. _Just what is she?_

 _I've never seen anyone move with reflexes like hers. Akame's skills probably surpass those of the homunculi_ , thought Al. He slid behind the red-eyed assassin as she was deflecting an attack by his brother. However, he was met with an elbow to his face.

"Alphonse," shouted Ed. The older alchemist charged again at Akame. The red-eyed girl tossed the spear upward in the air and grabbed Ed's arm, flipping him over her shoulder onto his back, crashing into the ground. The spear that Akame tossed came back down, and she caught it with her right hand.

"Your fighting skills are impressive Edward and Alphonse, but you are too slow," Akame said.

Edward slowly lifted himself up from the ground until he was sitting down. "I say you're too fast," he responded breathing heavily. "Don't you have any other surprises for us?"

"How's this for a surprise?" Edward jumped up just as a giant fist swung at him. The fist belonged to none other than a shirtless Bulat. "Nice job Ed! I didn't expect you to avoid my surprise attack!"

"Well I have to mind my surroundings in a real combat situation don't I Bulat?" Ed asked. "There could always be an enemy hiding."

"Correct. I'm beginning to think you'll make a fine assassin. And I do mean _fine_." The muscular assassin blushed at Ed while giving a wink, flexing his pecs while he was at it.

Ed turned away in embarrassment. "I miss Major Armstrong," he said to himself.

"Things must be going along well out here," Najenda said, hauling a giant backpack.

"Boss. You heading out?" Bulat asked.

The white hair woman nodded. "I'm gonna be traveling down south to the Revolutionary Army's headquarters to give them a briefing on our new members Edward and Alphonse."

"Ms. Najenda. That backpack looks awfully heavily on you," Alphonse said.

"Oh I can handle this much," Najenda responded with a smile. "Why else do you think I have this mechanical arm?"

Al turned to the muscular assassin. "Bulat. Has Ms. Najenda always been this strong?"

"Of course Al. She was a former general in the Imperial Army after all," the muscular assassin answered.

"Hold up. You were in the military?" Ed asked Najenda.

"All of us here in Night Raid were," the white hair woman answered.

"Well except Sheele, Mine, and I," Leone intruded from out of nowhere with an upbeat tone.

 _When did she get here?_ Thought Ed.

"Akame. While I'm away, I'm leaving you in charge of the base," Najenda said turning to the raven hair assassin.

"Understood," Akame answered bluntly.

"I'll be taking off now. I should return within a week," waved Najenda as she prepared to walk out of the courtyard. She suddenly stopped walking and lit a cigarette, turning her head back to the brothers. "Edward. Alphonse. Here in Night Raid, our main mission is to exterminate the higher up trash in the Capital. But should the army be called out to take action in the event of a collapse in government, we'll take advantage of the situation. And the prime minister, who is responsible for all the corruption in the Empire, we will exterminate him ourselves."

"Our main enemy is this prime minister after all?" Both Ed and Al asked in unision with surprise.

"That's our goal. There are other higher up targets, but we'll set them aside for the time being," explained Najenda. "Although I can't say when they'll take any action, we've prepared a plan to win. When that time comes, this country will change for sure."

"And when we succeed," intruded Ed. "Will the new country treat its people well?"

Najenda nodded with confidence. "Of course. Each person has his or her own reason for fighting, but they're all prepared. Will the opinions of you and your brother remain the same in how we will carry out our jobs?"

"Will we be rewarded in any way?" The older alchemist asked.

"Yes. Do your jobs right and you just might save many lives. I have confidence in you, Edward and Alphonse Elric." The white hair woman turned around and continued on her walk out of the courtyard.

"I was feeling a little tired just now, but I think the Boss's words just gave me a confidence boast," Ed exclaimed.

"Then let's finish our training brother," Al said. "We have to get stronger if we want to save as many lives as possible."

"That's the spirit guys," Bulat said.

"Well before we continue, how about I make a deal with all of you? If each of you can train Al and I, I might consider training you in how to use alchemy," proposed the older alchemist.

"A trade off? So that must be what equivalent exchange is," answered Bulat. "You got a deal then Ed! Now come and show me what you've got." The muscular alchemist quickly got into a fighting stance just as Ed and Al were charging. But the Elric Brothers instead ran past Bulat, catching him off guard. Ed performed a sweep kick, knocking Bulat off his balance. Al quickly grabbed Bulat's left arm, spun around, and threw the assassin ten meters across the courtyard. "Wow. These boys are more full of surprises than I am," Bulat said to himself as he grinned upward.

Ed and Al smiled and nodded at each other. The two then pounded the others' fist. "All right," both brothers exclaimed with pride, having landed a hit on one member of Night Raid.

* * *

 _Later that day, base onsen_

Edward sat down naked wearing a towel around his waist in a large hot spring located behind Night Raid's base. The older alchemist hissed as his skin touched the steaming water, but he soon relaxed enough to enjoy the heat. He leaned back against a giant rock and closed his eyes, running his fingers through his long untied hair. "Now this hits the spot," he said to himself. "I've never in my life enjoyed a bath like this."

"There weren't any hot springs back in Amestris brother, so that must explain it," Alphonse said as he was sitting on a stool near the spring, also naked and wearing a towel around his waist. "Though Akame did refer to this as an 'onsen,' or something like that." Alphonse then grabbed a wooden bucket of cold water and poured it over himself.

"Maybe this world has more onsen springs," the older alchemist wondered before hissing again. "This water is sure helping my aching muscles."

"Brother," Al said as he stepped into the hot water to sit down. "Do you think Akame is the strongest in Night Raid? Not once could we land a single hit on her."

Ed pondered placing his finger on his chin. "She could be. But I've been thinking about something. Maybe this whole physical training wasn't so that we could land a hit on her, but to increase our reaction time. We got to be fast when targeting an enemy, moving in and out without drawing too much attention."

"I think you may be right brother," responded Al. "I mean you did like to draw attention to yourself as a State Alchemist."

"Come on. I couldn't help it when fighting," chucked the older alchemist. "You were kind of the same way being in that suit of armor." Al grinned scratching the back of his head, showing that he agreed with his older brother's statement.

* * *

 _Later_

After taking their relaxing bath in the onsen, Ed and Al decided to rest in the living room. As Ed laid on the couch napping, Al leaned back on a chair napping too. "I call dibs on you," a playful voice exclaimed. The younger alchemist felt someone smack the top of his head waking him up, and found his opened eyes staring up at a giant pair of breasts.

"L-Leone?"

"Correct little man," the busty blonde said. "Get up. We're going into the Capital."

"Really? What for?"

"Just gonna do some reconnaissance, and I want you to accompany me," explained Leone.

"Okay then," Al said, thinking that Leone wouldn't take "no" for an answer.

* * *

 _The Capital_

Alphonse stood in amazement while standing beneath an arch in a giant wall. Ahead of the young alchemist were tall luxurious stone buildings, along with large crowds of people walking and talking. "This is the Capital? It's pretty big."

"Trying to take in the sight I see," Leone said as she slung her arm over Al's shoulder. She then pointed at a very large and tall building in the distance and leaned in closer to Al ear. "You see that over there? That's the royal place. That's where the Emperor lives."

The jaw of the younger alchemist dropped. "You mean to tell me that one kid actually lives in that place?"

Leone nodded. "It's also where our main target lives. The prime minister." The busty blonde gave off a menacing grin. "Someday I'll get the right opportunity to smash that bastard's face in with my own claws." Al felt a little unsettled by Leone's tone, but she turned to him with a cheerful look. "Well then. How's about we start?"

"Okay," Al answered.

Both assassins proceeded to walk through the Capital's streets. Al thought of how much the place reminded him of Central City in his home world. He looked around to notice that people weren't paying attention to him or Leone. _Do they not notice Leone and I are assassins?_ He quickly walked up to Leone until he made sure she was within whispering distance. "Leone. I don't think anybody looks nervous to see us."

"We're not on the wanted posters," answered Leone. "Take a look at that." Leone pointed at a wall with four posters on it. Al recognized Akame, Sheele, and Najenda, but could not recognize the fourth person who was a man with neck length black hair.

"Who's this guy in the middle?" Al wondered pointing at the man's poster.

"Him? That's Bulat."

Al stepped back in surprise. "Are you serious?"

"Yep. He changed appearance since his Imperial Army days," Leone said.

Al then visioned in his mind how Bulat, with his heart shaped pompadour, could be the same man on the wanted poster. _That's one before and after moment I can never erase from my mind_ , the younger alchemist thought.

"Come on little man. Let's get going," waved Leone as she walked away.

"Coming," exclaimed Al running to catch up with her.

Leone and Alphonse continued walking until both were in a rather affluent area of the Capital. The sun was already setting on them by this point. "Stop right here. Look," the busty blonde said turning to her left. Al followed and looked to his left at a large mansion in the distance behind a tall gate. "This is our target."

"What exactly are we targeting?" Al asked.

"Follow me," Leone said running down the street. The younger alchemist ran after his partner, turning a street corner until she stopped beside a brick wall. She then jumped up on the wall. "Up here."

The younger alchemist looked around to make sure nobody was watching them, and then he jumped up. "Okay. Now what?" He watched as Leone jumped through the trees, following after her. They leaped through tree after tree, undetected by guards who were patrolling the mansion grounds down below them. Leone then landed on a tree branch and gave a signal with her hand to indict to Al to stop, and so he landed beside her.

"Look over there," Leone said softly as she pointed at a large brick storage shed. "There's something you should a little bit more about us Al. Night Raid doesn't handle just assassinations, we also do intelligence gathering on possible targets and often accept requests to assassinate people from other people, if they have the right amount of money and they're not an Imperial spy that is."

"So why is this place important?" Al asked.

"We were given a tip several days ago by someone to investigate the family that lives in this mansion. They consist of a husband, wife, and one daughter. According to this anonymous source, the family loves to lure in strangers who travel from the countryside with sweet words and subject them to torture and toy with them until they die." Al's eyes widened in horror as he heard Leone explain to him their targets.

"How could these people do such a thing?"

"Even I don't have an answer for that," Leone answered. Something then came into view of the busty blonde assassins as she saw a man, woman, and a short girl with short blonde hair walking towards the large storage shed. "Speak of the devil. Look who's here."

"Daddy. Are you going to play with more people tonight?" The young girl asked.

"Of course my dear Aria," the older man said with a smile towards his daughter. "You may join in if you like."

"And I have my diary to document everything," the woman, who was probably the mother, followed up. The family went inside the shed and closed the metal doors behind them.

Al and Leone watched in silence from the trees, listening to the conversation that had taken place. A few minutes had passed, until the sound of someone's screaming pierced the assassins ears. Al shivered from the screaming, looking down so that the fear in his eyes couldn't be seen by Leone. He knew someone inside of that shed was getting brutally tortured, but he couldn't figure out why he or Leone were doing anything to save that person. She looked at the boy and sighed.

"Let's go Alphonse," she said, and leaped away. Al didn't say a single word and followed her. Another scream pierced the coming night as the younger alchemist left the scene.

* * *

 _Night Raid's Base_

It was already night by the time both assassins were walking towards the entrance of the base. Neither Leone nor Alphonse spoke a single word to each other along the way, as the busty blonde assassin knew that he was still unsettled by what he had heard back at the mansion. "Why?" Alphonse asked looking down. "Why couldn't we save whoever was in there being tortured?"

"Now wasn't the good time to assassinate the family," Leone answered. "We will carry out our mission on them two nights from now."

"But why later? That tortured person in there could have lived had we stepped in," shouted Al as tears fell from his eyes. "Why did we have to sit back and listen to someone die?" Leone grabbed Al's left arm and stared into his eyes.

"Well then what did you have in mind if you saved them? Could you heal that person from their fatal wounds?" Al gasped at Leone's question. "So it appears you can't. Furthermore, would you also have had the guts to kill that family?"

Al stuttered trying to find an answer. "No I wouldn't. I've never killed anyone before," he answered. "That one time with the tax collector, brother did all the killing while I just stood by."

"There's your answer," Leone said. "You need to come to understanding that sooner or later, you're gonna have to get blood on your hands. Being an assassin also should not be a one-man job. We carry out our work as a collective. Do you understand Alphonse?"

"Yes Leone," the younger alchemist quietly responded. Al then felt his body be pulled in by the busty blonde assassin as she hugged him. He closed his eyes as his nerves and fear vanished from within. _This comfort. It reminds me of mom_ , he thought.

"Do you feel better?" Leone asked. Al looked up at her giving a nod. "Let's go in." The busty blonde unwrapped her arms from the boy, and the two walked inside the base.


	6. Chapter 6: Kill the Family

_Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revolutionary Assassins_

Chapter 6: Kill the Family

 **Disclaimer:** ** _Fullmetal Alchemist_** **is owned by Hiromu Arakawa, and** ** _Akame ga Kill_** **is owned by Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro.**

* * *

Morning came again for Edward and Alphonse as they prepared for another day of training with Akame. Just like yesterday, the Elric Brothers went through another hour of breathing exercises to clear their minds. Al wanted to use this time to put behind him the events of yesterday when he was with Leone. The screams of whoever was in that large storage shed haunted him throughout the night, and he still felt a bit angry at not being able to do anything to save that person. Al took in a deep breath and exhaled.

"You seem to struggling Alphonse," Akame said opening her left eye.

"S-sorry," Al replied and took another deep breath.

"I presume this is about your talk with Leone when you got back last night?" The red-eyed assassin asked.

The younger alchemist opened his eyes and said with surprise, "How do you know about that?"

"I saw both of you coming back from above the base."

"Uh, did I miss something?" Ed intruded opening his eyes.

"It's nothing brother," Al assured his older brother. "How about we just get back to training?"

"Alphonse," Ed sternly said. He knew Al was hiding something, and he didn't want to continue until he spilled what it was.

The younger alchemist sighed. He had no other choice but to explain to his brother about what had happened last night, or else Akame would have to tell it for him. "Leone and I got back from checking out a target we're supposed to hit tomorrow night, and I got angry because there were people I wanted to save. I heard someone screaming as they were being tortured by our target, and I couldn't save them because she said it wasn't the right time!"

"Hey Al calm down," the older alchemist said to Al. "You're probably just suffering from anxiety since our first mission is coming up."

"No I'm not," Al rebutted. "If you had come along with us yesterday brother, you wouldn't have hesitated to kill our target and save whoever was being tortured!"

"Alphonse," Akame intruded. "We're assassins, and our job is to kill. There are times when we indirectly save a person or two, but going around trying to save every person dying at the hands of the Empire isn't our main job."

"Maybe you're right Akame," Al replied as he looked down with disbelief. "But…" His gripped his fists tighter as they rested on his knees. He wanted to say more, but could not find the words to continue expressing his frustration.

"Let's get back to training," Akame said. She closed her eyes again to continue her breathing exercise. Ed and Al followed along.

 _Whatever happened yesterday is over_ , Al thought. _I can't let the past dwell on me._ Al closed his eyes and his muscles relax, inhaling and exhaling slowly. As he did this, the echoes of the screams became quieter and quieter, until the screams disappeared completely. _To whoever was in there, I'm sorry_.

* * *

Ed, Al, and Akame soon finished up their training to make breakfast for the other Night Raid members. When it came time to eat, everybody had gathered except for one certain person. Leone was nowhere to be seen, and this worried Al a bit.

"Does anyone know where Leone is?" The younger alchemist asked.

"Um," said Sheele. "I think she said something about going to the Capital for something. I'm sorry. I forgot what else she told me."

"Sure you did airhead," muttered Mine as she took another bite of her breakfast. She turned to Edward as he ate, noticing that he did not drink his glass of milk. "Ahem," the pink haired assassin said clearing her throat to get the older alchemist's attention. "Do you want a repeat of yesterday?"

"Ghh," uttered Ed. He reached for the glass of milk and slowly took a tip from it. His face turned sour with disgust as the white liquid entered his mouth. Streams of anime tears ran down his face as he drank the rest of the glass until the last drop of milk was gone.

"There. That wasn't hard now," Mine said with a smile.

 _It's easy for you to say. I felt like I traveled to hell and back_ , Ed thought as he scarfed his face with the rest of his breakfast to drown out the taste of milk.

* * *

"Hyah!" Edward came charging at Akame with a wooden practice sword he held in his hands. He swung at the red-eyed assassin, and she countered by blocking with her wooden sword. For part two of the Elric Brothers second day of training, Akame decided to put Ed and Al's skill with swords to the test. As Akame swung at Ed, the older alchemist jumped over her wooden sword and swung downward, but the red-eyed assassin blocked his attack again with ease. Ed twirled around Akame's right to get an attack from behind, though Akame reacted quicker twirling to her left, swinging her wooden sword at Ed's torso.

"You're dead," Akame said.

"Damn. I did not expect that," groaned Ed as he rubbed the area of his torso where he got hit. "I'd say you're a lot more skilled at swordsmanship than hand to hand combat."

"Not true," Akame rebutted. "I have never considered myself to be a swordsman. But what's more important Edward is you need a lot of training in this area."

"I can agree with you," said Ed. He proceeded to clasp his hands and transmuted his automail arm into a blade. "But I'm pretty skilled when fighting like this."

Akame was rather unamused by the blade on Ed's arm. "That alone will not help you when we prepare to fight tough enemies who may wield Teigu."

The older alchemist cocked an eyebrow at the last thing Akame said. "What's a Teigu?"

The red-eyed assassin gave a small sigh. "I must apologize for not telling you earlier." Akame then drew a sword from a red scabbard holstered on her left hip. "This is a Teigu."

"A katana?" Ed said.

"Yes. But there's more," answered Akame. "One thousand years ago after the founding of the Empire, the first Emperor became worried about the future of his country. He wanted to protect it, but knew at the same time he would die someday. The emperor then realized that weapons and armor could last forever and be passed on into the far future. So to insure that the Empire would last forever, he concentrated all knowledge to create weapons. Legend says they gathered materials from the most dangerous of legendary class Danger Beasts. The greatest scientific minds were gathered from around the world to forge these weapons. With the Emperor's absolute power and limitless fortune, they accomplished a feat that would be considered impossible today. They created forty-eight deadly weapons, and they are called 'Teigu.' Each and every one of them holds unbelievable power as strong as a thousand soldiers. It is said that the Emperor's retainers who the Teigu were given to achieved greater military success than before. Unfortunately, five hundred years ago, a huge civil war broke out, and almost half of the forty-eight Teigu were lost during that time. And that's it."

"Forty-eight weapons made from Danger Beasts?" Alphonse asked with amazement. "Not even alchemy can do something like that. Do the other guys have Teigu?"

"Yes Alphonse," the red-eyed assassin answered. "Everyone except the boss."

"Just what kind of Teigu do you possess?" Wondered Ed.

"My Teigu is called 'Murasame,' also called the One Cut Killer. As its nickname suggests, one cut with this blade means certain death. It injects a cursed poison into any wound caused by it that will kill an opponent within seconds. There is no antidote for it. Leone's Teigu is 'Animal King Lionelle.' It takes the form of a belt, which changes its user into a beast, raising the user's combat ability and senses such as sight, hearing, and enemy detection."

Both brothers then recalled Leone's cat ears, tail, and claws when they first came across each other. "Well I remember seeing Leone's in action," Ed said to himself.

"Mine's weapon is 'Roman Artillery: Pumpkin': a gun type Teigu that gathers spirit energy and fires it in a concentrated shockwave. The destructive power increases in proportion to the danger the user finds his/herself in," continued Akame. "Bulat wields the 'Demon Armor: Incursio,' providing an iron wall of defense. Since it places a large strain on the user, a normal person will die if they attempt to wear it. Lubbock wields 'Infinite Uses: Cross Tail.' It's a strong thread type Teigu that can be used to trap enemies, either as a barrier or for dismemberment. The name 'Infinite Uses' refers to the multiple ways of restraining or cutting an enemy."

"So that's what Lubbock tied me up with," Al exclaimed. "Just the thought of him using it for dismemberment makes me shiver."

"You're lucky his threads didn't cut into your skin," said Akame. "Last but not least is Sheele. Her Teigu is 'Cutter of Creation: Extase.' It takes the form of a large pair of scissors that so sharp that it can cut through just about any object and person. Its hardness also makes it useful for defense. Another item to note. Each Teigu possesses a secret skill known as a trump card. For example, Incursio can take on the characteristics of its surroundings, allowing its user to blend into it for a short period of time. Because Teigu have strong abilities built into them, there's one major rule while using them."

"And that is?" Asked Ed.

"If two Teigu users clash with each other intending to kill the other, one of them is sure to die," answered the red-eyed assassin. The Elric Brothers looked on in stunned silence when Akame's words of death while fighting with a Teigu hit them.

"Such powerful weapons to wield," Al said to himself.

"And only one person will make it out alive if they fight someone like them?" Followed up Ed.

"I've had Murasame for a long time and killed many with it that people in the Empire refer to me as 'Akame of the Demon Sword Murasame,'" Akame said.

"No shocker there. You're almost invincible with it right?" Asked the older alchemist with excitement.

"No, I'm not," answered Akame. "There is a weakness that this sword possesses."

"And that is?" Both brothers asked in unison.

"It is a pain to maintain when cleaning or sharpening it. If you cut your finger, you die. And while fighting, if you can't cut your opponent, then the curse can't get into them."

"So cutting into metal won't cause any harm? All right then Akame, try hitting my automail with it and see what happens," Ed said.

"Brother! Are you crazy?" Screamed Al.

"No," Akame answered. "I'm not taking a risk with that."

"Ah well, worth a try," the older alchemist said with a smug smile as he shrugged.

"Edward. The reason I said 'you're dead' earlier when I hit you with that wooden sword was an example of what kind of power my Teigu wields. Also, I realized something during the time I've had Murasame," the red-eyed assassin intruded as she stared down at her sword before placing it back in its scabbard. "The world was initially a one hit kill place. A Teigu's power should not be relied on too heavily."

Ed's smile vanished as he heard Akame talk. _Akame. You and I appear to be the same age, but from hearing your words, I want to know what pain and suffering you've been through before._ "Akame. This sounds like it's coming out of nowhere, but could you tell me about your past?"

Akame nodded with a no. "Trust me Edward and Alphonse. You don't want to know what my life has been like," she replied. _The way you two are so close to each other, it reminds me of her._

"Yoo-hoo," Leone's cheerful voice sung out as she waved from the doorway of the base.

"Leone," Al exclaimed. "Where were you this morning?"

"Doing some sole reconnaissance on the place we're hitting tomorrow night," the busty blonde said walking towards the group. "Plus I also got this." She then dangled a bag of coins that she had carried over her right shoulder.

"How did you get that money?" Wondered Ed as he pointed at the bag.

"It's actually a funny story. I was sitting at a café drinking tea when I overheard this brown-haired boy talking to himself about finding the military barracks to look for a job. From the way he talked, I could tell he was from the countryside and had never been in the Capital before. The little guy got kicked out pretty quickly for some reason, and so I strolled up to him and let him offer me to a drink."

"That must explain your beer breath," Ed stated as he wiped away the smell from his nose.

"I told the lad I knew someone in the military who could help him get in, and I asked him for his money as payment. Then I took off from there," finished Leone. Ed and Al's jaws dropped at Leone's story.

"You just stole from some random kid! Why did you do that?" Screamed Ed.

"Hmm," pondered the busty blonde assassin as she tapped her chin. "Let's just say he learned a very important life lesson."

"Don't leave your money with a random stranger?" Answered Al.

"Correct little Al," exclaimed Leone as she dragged him in, snuggling his head between her breasts. "How are you so smart?"

 _How are you so crazy?_ Thought the older alchemist.

* * *

 _Late afternoon, the next day_

Night Raid stood at a cliff on the outskirts of the Capital. Everyone, with the exception of the Elric Brothers, had their Teigu by their sides. They waited until the last rays of the setting sun disappeared below the horizon to official begin their mission. As the light of the sun set, thousands of lights began to light up the Capital in the distance. As Edward and Alphonse looked at the sight, they were reminded of how bright Central City used to shine like it.

"It's almost time," Akame said as she carefully observed the sun finally dip from sight. "Let's move out!" In the blink of an eye, Night Raid dashed towards the Capital, leaving Ed and Al bewildered as they watched their friends go on ahead without them.

"Hey wait," shouted the brothers as they took off. Ed and Al were giving it their all as they ran at full speed to catch up with at least one of their friends. Al picked up speed and pulled ahead of his older brother, running until he caught sight of Bulat.

"Bulat," shouted the younger alchemist.

"Alphonse! Did you and Edward want to tag along with me?"

"Sure," answered Al.

"By the way, you can call me 'handsome' or 'bro' if you like," Bulat said.

"Sounds cool bro," replied Al. "Though I'll have to get used to saying bro and brother to tell you and Ed apart."

"Good enough for me," said the muscular assassin. "Want to see something cool? Just stand back a bit." Al stopped in his tracks just as Ed caught up to him. Bulat then placed his right hand on the ground. **"INCURSIO!"** A large dragon sprang up from the ground behind Bulat towering over him. The Elric Brothers watched in awe as the muscular assassin's entire body was enveloped by the dragon in a silver suit of armor with a cape, and a long unusual halberd.

"Incredible," exclaimed Al. "Is that your Teigu?"

"That's right," Bulat answered. "This is Incursio. You're already getting an understanding of our weapons quickly. I guess Akame told you about them."

"Mhm," nodded Al.

"Let's keep on moving guys. The others aren't gonna stand around waiting for us," Bulat explained.

The trio eventually caught up with the rest of Night Raid, passing through some of the Capital's streets unnoticed until Akame suggested a detour by jumping over the rooftops. Night Raid had made good on jumping from roof to roof, as more areas below the group became filled with some guards patrolling the streets. Ed was the only assassin unfamiliar with the layout of the city, so he decided to trail everybody else, including Alphonse, who had remembered somewhat from his visit with Leone a couple of days ago. As the group progressed further into the Capital, the area became more affluent, until Night Raid reached the mansion that was their target. Lubbock then used his Teigu Cross Tail to shoot out some wire threads from his hands.

"Hop on," the green-haired assassin shouted to his fellow assassins. Akame, Ed, Al, Sheele, Mine, Leone, and Bulat, jumped on the threads and were lifted high into the air to get a good view of the mansion and its surrounding grounds below them.

Edward looked at his feet to see him standing on the wire thread. "This feels strange. The thread is so thin, but I don't feel my balance wobbling."

"Focus Edward," Akame said turning to him. Ed nodded and looked down at the mansion.

"Let's remember what we talked about guys," Mine reminded the group. "Sheele. You go down first and kill the first person you come across in the mansion."

"Understood," Sheele replied as she held a giant pair of scissors, her Teigu Extase, in her right hand. The purple haired assassin jumped down and landed on the ground with ease, running inside the building.

* * *

In one of the mansion's hallways, a woman in a nightgown hummed to herself as she read a book with notes written in them. "Now then. I think I'll write down another entry in my diary," the woman said to herself. "I just can't seem to stop this hobby of mine…" Out of nowhere the woman's body was sliced in half at the waist, her arms along with it. "Huh?" The woman wondered what had happened to her, though she landed on the floor dead before she could react.

Standing behind the woman was Sheele with Extase snapped closed and covered with her blood, along with her clothes, face, and glasses. Sheele swiped the blood off Extase as she looked down. "I'm sorry," she apologized bowing at the woman's corpse. The purple haired assassin noticed the woman's diary on the floor, picking it up before running back down the hallway.

* * *

Back outside, Akame sensed that Sheele had assassinated a target. "First blood has been spilled," she said. At that moment, three guards rushed out of the mansion directing each other on what to do.

"Would you look at that," Lubbock said. "Three bodyguards. They're your targets Akame."

The red-eyed assassin nodded. "Eliminate." Akame drew Murasame from its scabbard and leaned backwards falling to the ground, twirling until she positioned herself to land feet first. Bulat followed and landed behind her.

"Listen up men," shouted one of the bodyguards as he drew his sword. "Do not let that sword of hers cut you! Now charge!" The three bodyguards dashed forward at the red-eyed assassin but Akame swung first at the bodyguard in front, killing him instantly while his body was enveloped with strange markings. Bulat followed up, throwing his halberd at the second bodyguard striking him in the stomach.

"No," uttered the third bodyguard, turning around immediately to run away. "These people are monsters!" He did not get to run ten meters before an energy blast struck him in the back of the head. The blast came from none other than Mine's Pumpkin.

"How pathetic," Mine said looking down at her target. "Running away in the face of an enemy."

"Well you'd normally run from that," Lubbock followed up. The green haired assassin glanced at Ed and Al as they watched the carnage below. "I'd say it's time to make your move guys."

"Got it," replied Ed, jumping off the wire thread, followed by Al. _So this is the power of Night Raid._

 _All three of them were killed in less than half a minute_ , thought Al as he landed. The younger alchemist then noticed several more bodyguards approaching from his right. "Brother!"

"Thanks for the heads up Al," shouted Ed. He clasped his hands together and planted them on the ground creating a sword. The bodyguards stopped in their tracks as they watched the alchemist's transmutation.

"What did that guy just do? He created a sword from the ground," a bodyguard wondered.

"Don't you see men? He's probably a demon," another one shouted as he pulled out a machine gun. The bodyguard then began firing at Ed.

"Oh great," muttered Ed. "Not the demon accusation again." Ed charged at the man firing, deflecting every bullet with his sword. The older alchemist jumped in the air and swung down at the bodyguard, slicing him across the chest, causing him to fall backwards as blood spewed from his body. Ed quickly directed his attention to the nearest bodyguard, killing him quickly.

* * *

Meanwhile inside the mansion, Leone was holding up a man by his throat. The man struggled to break free from the assassin's grip, but to no avail. "Guh… Ugh… Don't do this," the man pleaded. "I have a daughter!"

"Relax sir," replied Leone. "You'll meet your daughter in hell soon enough."

"No. Not Aria," the man weakly said as Leone's grip became tighter. "Have you no mercy?" * **snap*** The man's neck cracked loudly with a final tight squeeze from Leone's hand.

"Mercy? I have no idea what you're talking about," answered Leone with a menacing smile.

* * *

Outside, Al stood alone nearby, watching as his brother killed one guard after the other. For some reason, his entire body was frozen stiff. He could not find the will to join the rest of Night Raid and kill somebody. "I can't… I'm too nervous," the younger alchemist said to himself. His senses suddenly snapped as a bodyguard rushed from behind and swung his sword at him. Al was the faster one by jumping up, clasping his hands and planting his left arm on the ground to transmute a spear as he landed. He quickly blocked the bodyguard's next swing, and then the one after that. Unusual for Al, he was on the defensive as his thoughts became more clouded. The younger alchemist shot forward his spear, but the bodyguard dodged the attack and swung again at Al, being blocked again. _What do I do? Somebody help me,_ Al screamed in his mind.

 _"You need to come to understanding that sooner or later, you're gonna have to get blood on your hands,"_ Leone said in his mind.

 _"You cannot have distractions cloud your judgment when fighting an enemy. Strike hard and fast, otherwise you'll be one who's cut down,"_ followed up Akame.

The words of both assassins echoed in Al's mind as he continued his fight with the bodyguard. _They're both right_ , he thought. _I will not be cut down here_. Al's eyes widened as he felt his instincts being hit with confidence. "I am going to live!" Al lurched forward with his spear just as the bodyguard prepared to swing again, driving it into the man's stomach. The bodyguard coughed up a bunch of blood as the younger alchemist pulled back his spear.

"I… can believe it," the bodyguard weakly said. "How could I have been killed by a mere child?" He slowly fell to his knees before falling on his right side to die.

Al looked at the bodyguard's corpse and then at the pointed end of his spear.

"This is unreal," Al said to himself. "Is this what it feels like to kill? To get somebody's blood on your hands?" He did not have any more time to waste as he turned towards his older brother who was still fighting off two bodyguards of his own.

Ed was currently fending off the bodyguards, trying to attack and defending with his sword and transmuted blade on his automail arm. "I'm already getting annoyed," grunted the older alchemist. "Where the hell is…" One of the bodyguards was suddenly stabbed from behind by Al's spear. "Oh. There you are Alphonse."

"Looks like you could use some help brother," Al commented as he pulled out the spear from the dead bodyguard's body.

"Thanks Al! Now that leaves just one," shouted the older alchemist slashing at the last remaining bodyguard's chest. Although hit, the man survived.

"Who are you?" The bodyguard groaned looking up at Ed.

"You're only gonna hear this one time, so remember it while you're on the way to hell," answered Ed. "I am Edward Elric, an assassin in Night Raid. I am also known as the Fullmetal Alchemist!" The older alchemist then drove his sword into the bodyguard's heart.

"The Fullmetal Alchemist: Edward Elric," said Leone as she walked towards the brothers with blood stained claws. "I think that name suits you very well."

"Leone," exclaimed Al.

"I see you claimed your first kill tonight little man," the busty blonde assassin said giving Al a noogie. "I knew you had it in you."

"Well it's thanks to you and Akame," replied Al, fixing his light brown hair. "My confidence was low, but then I remembered what you told me that one time."

"I am a great big sis after all," Leone bragged. "Come on. Let's go find Akame. I already handled the dad, so I think she's after the daughter of the household."

Al then remembered the little blonde girl he saw walking into the large storage shed shed that day. _So now we're going after her,_ he thought. _If I remember, Aria was the girl's name._

* * *

The trio of Leone, Ed, and Al walked on the mansion grounds in the direction of the large storage shed. "Leone," Ed commented. "Is it true that the belt you're wearing can turn you animal like?"

"Uh huh," nodded the busty blonde assassin. "While everyone either has a fancy sword or armor as their Teigu, I can just transform into a beast and smash people's heads in. It's a really good stress reliever." Leone immediately stopped walking, with both brothers doing the same.

"Hey what's the hold up?" Ed asked. The older alchemist looked ahead to see Akame wielding Murasame as she prepared to face a sword wielding brown-haired boy with spiky hair and green eyes defending a short blonde girl in a dress behind him. "Did Akame not finish off one of the guards?"

As Leone looked on ahead, she suddenly recognized the boy. "What the-?" The girl face palmed with a sigh of disbelief. "Crap. How did this guy become so unlucky?"

"Do you know him?" Al asked.

"Unfortunately yes," answered Leone. "Remember the boy I told you about whom I leeched money from? He's that guy over there."

"Well let's see how this battle turns out," commented Ed.

The brown-haired boy and Akame charged at each other with their swords crashing into one another's. The boy swung his sword again, but Akame spin jumped in the air, proceeding to kick him in the left shoulder, throwing the boy off balance. In the blink of an eye, Akame drove her sword into the boy's heart. He coughed and fell to the ground on his stomach.

"Tatsumi," screamed the short blonde girl.

 _Tatsumi? So that's the guy's name,_ thought Ed.

Instead of dying, the brown-haired boy chuckled and lifted himself off the ground. "You didn't let your guard down and try to finish me off?" Tatsumi asked Akame.

"I didn't feel my blade bite flesh," said the red-eyed assassin.

Tatsumi reached inside of his leather vest to pull out a wooden idol with a dent in it. "My village protected me."

Standing on the sideline, Leone was impressed with the brown-haired boy's fighting. _This guy is more impressive than I thought. I didn't think he'd survive that long in a fight against Akame._

"Eliminate," uttered Akame as she dashed towards the boy.

"Hold on," screamed Tatsumi. "Are you after money or something else? Just let the girl go! We're not a war, yet you want to kill someone innocent like her?" As Akame prepared to swing Murasame, he thought, _Damn it! She's not listening to anything I tell her!_

"Time to step in now," Leone said to herself. She dashed towards Akame with lightning speed and grabbed her by the collar. "Hold up!"

"What now?" Akame asked as she looked up at her fellow blonde assassin.

"There's still time, right? Besides, I want to owe this guy a favor by paying him back," explained Leone. She then looked at Tatsumi and winked. "Am I right?"

As Tatsumi stared in stunned silence wondering why this mysterious blonde haired lady saved him, he suddenly recognized Leone. "Hey you're the giant boobs!"

"Yep," quipped Leone waving at the brown-haired boy. "The beautiful girl from the other day. Listen, you told us not to kill this girl because you think she's innocent." Leone walked to the doors leading to the storage shed and kicked them open. "Can you still say that after seeing this?" Tatsumi followed behind Leone along with Ed and Al. All three males suddenly widened their eyes at what laid before them. Hundred of dead bodies, many of them severed, dangled from the ceiling and laid on torturing tables. Some who were alive were locked up in cages. "Welcome to the Capital kid."

"Wh-What the hell is this place?" Tatsumi recoiled in horror.

"This family isn't what you thought it was," answered Al. "They lure in people like you from the countryside with fake kindness and torture them until they die."

Tatsumi slowly walked up to one of the bodies dangling from the ceiling, his eyes widening more as he recognized the person. It was a girl with long black hair who had a flower pinned in, naked, and her right left severed. "Sayo? Hey Sayo! Is that you?"

"So you knew one of these people?" Al asked as his body trembled. _That screaming I heard days ago. I could tell it was a girl's voice. Could this be same girl that was tortured?"_

Unknown to the group, the blonde daughter quietly tried to sneak away. "Where do you think you're going missy?" Ed asked grabbing the girl's left arm. He then stuck his bladed automail arm up against her throat. "You got some explaining to do."

"The family of this house did this?" Tatsumi asked.

"Correct," answered Leone. "The guards also kept quiet about this, and they're equally guilty."

"It's a lie," screamed the little blonde girl. "I had no idea this place existed! Are you going to believe me, the one you saved you, or these guys, Tatsumi?"

"You're the liar here Aria," screamed Al, pointing at the girl. "I watched you days ago walk into that shed with your parents. You were so giddy with joy asking them if you could 'play with more people.' I heard a girl's scream coming from inside, and I bet that this guy's friend here is that same girl you tortured to death!"

"Okay, so I did it," replied Aria releasing herself from Ed's grip on her arm, taking a step back. The girl's face suddenly became twisted and demonic. "But what's wrong with that? You're just low class hicks from the countryside! I should be free to do whatever I want with these people! And that girl over there! She may be a hick, but she was impertinent for have straight beautiful hair while mine is unruly! That's why she ought to be grateful that I took special care of her!"

"Geez what a creepy girl," muttered Ed. "Yo Akame. You can get her out of the way if you want to."

"Understood," replied the red-eyed assassin holding up Murasame.

"Wait," shouted Tatsumi.

"Don't tell me you're still gonna defend her?" Asked Al.

"No," the brown-haired boy replied. **"I'LL KILL HER!"** With one swing of his sword, Tatsumi slashed Aria's stomach, spewing a load of blood as she fell on her back.

 _That girl was twisted in the head, but he didn't hesitate to kill her,_ thought Leone, impressed by Tatsumi's actions.

Tatsumi wasn't finished yet. He turned to glare at Alphonse and rushed at him, violently grabbing him by the collar, then pinning him up against the wall of the shed, point his sword at the young alchemist's neck. "Sayo. My friend Sayo was screaming as she was being tortured, and you stood by watching this family get away with it?" Tatsumi was suddenly met with a punch to the right side of his face by Edward's automail hand, knocking him to the ground while releasing Al.

"Let's get some things out of the way first sweater vest," the older alchemist commented with anger towards Tatsumi. "Number one: don't ever grab my little brother like that. Number two: do you really feel the need to take out your revenge on someone who has never killed another person before tonight? Because that's also my brother I'm referring too."

"He could have still stepped in and escaped with her just fine without killing anybody," Tatsumi rebutted.

"Ta-tsu-mi," a young man's voice weakly said from inside the building. The brown-haired boy slowly walked in looking to his left in horror to see another boy his age locked up in a cage, his body covered in sores and blood. "Is that you Tatsumi? It's me."

"I… Ieyasu?" Shouted Tatsumi.

The boy nodded weakly. "I can see you did a good job on killing that girl."

"Hang on Ieyasu. I'm gonna get you out," Tatsumi assured him.

"Leave that to me," Leone said, bending the bars of the cage.

Tatsumi caught Ieyasu just as he was about to fall. The brown-haired slowly walked out with his friend leaning onto him, as Ieyasu was too weak to move on his own. "Hey Tatsumi," Ieyasu said. "About Sayo. She didn't submit once to that bitch as she was being tortured. She may have screamed loudly, but she held her own." Ieyasu chuckled before covering his mouth to vomit blood.

"Ieyasu," screamed Tatsumi, gently setting his down to rest his head on his lap. "What's wrong?"

"He's in the last stages of Lubora disease," Sheele said walking up to Tatsumi with a book in her left hand, tossing it on the ground. "The wife enjoyed injecting drugs into her victims and writing down their symptoms in her diary. There's no cure for it."

Tatsumi eyes widen. He had already lost one of his childhood friends, and now he was preparing to lose another one. The brown-haired boy stared down at his friend to watch him live his final moments in this world.

"Please Tatsumi," Ieyasu said more weakly than before. "Don't take out your anger on that boy over there for not saving Sayo and I. Even if he could, there's no way we would survive the disease injected in our bodies. You now have to stand up and move on your own two legs, because it looks like I'll be going to join Sayo now." Ieyasu looked up at his friend with a smile and slowly closed his eyes, breathing his final breath.

The brown-haired boy continued looking down in silence for a couple of seconds. "What's wrong the Capital?"

Akame stared at the boy before turning around and walking away. "Let's go," she ordered.

"Shouldn't we bring this guy with us?" Ed asked pointing at Tatsumi.

"Why?"

"Oh I don't know," the older alchemist commented as he pointed his bladed automail arm in Tatsumi's face, freaking out the boy. "He's seen our faces. If we let him go, he might rat us out to the authorities."

Tatsumi shoved the blade away. "Fine I'll go with you people! But let me bring my friends so I can bury them."

"Don't worry about that," Leone said. "I'll bring their bodies to the hideout later."

The brown-haired boy groaned as he followed the busty blonde assassin, Akame, Al, Ed, and Sheele. Tatsumi then looked to notice Al staring at him. When they made eye contact with one another, the young alchemist quickly turned away knowing Tatsumi was probably still angry with him. Tatsumi continued staring at the kid with a look of anger, but then he remembered Ieyasu's final words on how he shouldn't be angry.

* * *

Back at the rooftop of the mansion, Bulat, Lubbock, and Mine were waiting for their comrades to meet up with them, as they had been on the lookout for any other guards that might have approached them. They suddenly saw the rest of Night Raid jump on the roof.

"They're back," commented Bulat.

"We better retreat now before things turn ugly," Lubbock followed up.

"You're late," shouted Mine with her arms crossed. "What the hell were you all up too?" The pink-haired girl then glanced at Tatsumi standing behind the group. "Who's he?"

"New guy," Ed and Leone answered in unison.

Tatsumi snapped his head towards the two assassins with surprise. "Wait what?"

"That's right little guy. Starting tonight, you're now a member of Night Raid," Leone exclaimed with joy. "Welcome to the club!"

The brown-haired boy blinked several times before getting the memo. **"I didn't sign up for this!"** Tatsumi screamed with confusion.

"Give it up," Akame said bluntly. "You can't make Leone listen once she starts."

Leone patted the red-eyed assassin's head. "Yep. That's my Akame. Bulat. You take care of him," the busty blonde assassin said to the armored assassin.

Bulat proceeded to pick up Tatsumi, carrying him in his right arm. "Let me go," shouted Tatsumi as he squirmed. "I never agreed to becoming an assassin!"

"Oh don't worry. I promise it will be better soon," Bulat commented with a seductive tone, blushing on the inside of his armor.

Tatsumi's face widened. "What will?"

Ed snickered. "Oh it will be better," the older alchemist said, aware that Bulat was already hitting on Tatsumi.

"No seriously," Tatsumi asked freaked out more than ever. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Mission complete. Let's return to base," ordered Akame. Everyone nodded. The members of Night Raid jumped off the roof of the mansion, disappearing into the moonlit night.


	7. Chapter 7: Kill the Mystery

_Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revolutionary Assassins_

Chapter 7: Kill the Mystery

 **A/N: I'm have come back with a new chapter. I apologize to those who have been waiting for months to hear from me, but I have been dealing with college. I will be starting my senior year in a couple of weeks, so I'll have to see how my writing schedule will be affected. Plus I have also suffered from writer's block because this chapter was difficult for me to write.**

 **Disclaimer:** _ **Fullmetal Alchemist**_ **is owned by Hiromu Arakawa, and** _ **Akame ga Kill**_ **is owned by Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro.**

* * *

 _Alphonse woke up and stood to look around him, but all he could see was darkness in every direction. He began to walk to find out where he was, though the more he walked, the more endless the darkness became. The young alchemist then said, "What is this?" Mysterious voices began echoing in the distance, causing Al to panic, turning his head in every direction he looked. "Hello? Who's there?"_

" _It's your fault," a voice said to the boy._

" _Is someone there?" Al asked. His sense snapped and quickly turned around to see Tatsumi violently grab him by the collar, holding his sword up to his neck._

" _Sayo. My friend Sayo was screaming as she was being tortured, and you stood by watching this family get away with it?"_

" _Please don't," cried Al. "I'm sorry! There wasn't anything I could do for her!" Tatsumi wouldn't listen. The brown-haired boy then drove his sword into the young alchemist's throat._

"Ahh," screamed Al as he awoke to lean up from his bed. He panted heavily as he stared ahead to see that the darkness was gone. He looked up and to his left to see the sun shining through his window. "It was only a nightmare. Thank goodness," Al said to himself as he placed his right hand on his throat to make sure it was all right. "Could that guy still be mad at me?"

"Mhm," a voice softly mumbled. Al looked to his left again and down to see a familiar purple-haired girl resting her head along the edge of his bed as she knelt on the floor.

"Sheele," Al said quietly with a raised eye. "What's she doing here?"

The purple-haired assassin rubbed her eyes, slowly opening them to look at Al. "Good morning Alphonse," mumbled Sheele. "You'll be training with me today. I hope we can get along."

"What about brother?" Asked the young alchemist. "And… Why didn't Akame wake me up to inform me of this?" Sheele, though, had fallen back asleep before she could give him an answer.

"Akame took Edward hunting I think," answered Sheele while her eyes were still closed. "Ask her when she gets back."

Al groaned, falling back down on bed and rubbed his face with both hands. _Great. So brother isn't here, she's back asleep, and I'm wide awake,_ he thought. _This morning ought to be interesting._

* * *

 _Later in the meeting room_

"I finished breakfast Sheele," exclaimed Al carrying one plate in each hand.

"Thanks Alphonse," Sheele said as she read a book.

Curiosity struck the young alchemist on what kind of book Sheele was reading while sitting down beside her. _"100 Ways to Kill Your Airheadness,"_ thought Al as he leaned over to read the book's title. _Why would she be interested in reading that? I guess she's probably this world's version of Sheska._

"Here's the meeting room," said Leone as her voice entered the room. "This is where we gather to discuss missions we're assigned." Al looked to see the busty blonde assassin walking in along with Tatsumi. The young alchemist suddenly felt a wave of tension envelop him when he and Tatsumi made eye contact.

"Uh hi?" Al nervously said to Tatsumi and Leone.

"Good morning Al," Leone cheerfully replied. "And this Tatsumi are our other two members, Sheele and Alphonse Elric."

"Hello," Tatsumi said to the two assassins sitting at the table. Silence fell in the room because of the awkward situation between both boys, with neither of them sure if they should start a conversation.

"So… uh," stammered Al. "It's been three days since you were brought here. Have you decided to join Night Raid?"

"No," answered the brown-haired boy. "I've still been undecided."

"Well I hope you think it through and make up your mind soon," Al replied scratching his head. He quickly dug into his breakfast to break away from the tension. _Did I give the right answer? I know he's angry with me still._

Leone could sense the tension, so she patted both Al and Tatsumi's backs. "Come on guys. Don't be so down," Leone exclaimed. "Tatsumi. I know you still have some resentment towards Al because of… well, you know."

"Look I'm already over it," Tatsumi said removing the busty blonde's hand from him. "But I don't see why he's the one who's nervous."

Anger began to build up inside Al, turning his head to Tatsumi with an agitated expression. "If you're over it, then why are you so nervous to be around me?" Shouted Al.

This response agitated Tatsumi. "You're the one who's wanting to make this talk worse," the brown-haired boy shouted back pointing at Al. The young alchemist launched himself from his chair to stand toe to toe with Tatsumi. Both boys fiercely glared at each other, not knowing who would throw a first punch or another counterargument.

* **smack** * * **smack** * "Will you two get over it?" Shouted a voice as both boys were hit upside their heads. Huge bumps popped up from Al and Tatsumi's heads as they knelt on the ground while Mine stood over them. "You're acting like grade school children fighting over nothing."

"Could you have not hit us upside the head?" Tatsumi shouted while still rubbing his bump. * **smack** * Mine struck Tatsumi again, giving him another bump.

"Don't mind Mine," Leone said slightly waving her hand. "She's like that with everybody."

 _Thanks for telling me that now,_ thought Tatsumi with gritted teeth.

"And you Alphonse," Mine stated pointing at the young alchemist. "Stop dwelling in the past! You can't be moping about every single mistake you make! You have to man up and learn from them!"

Rubbing his head still, Al took in Mine's words to heart. He knew she was right. He knew that the only person adding to his guilt the past three days was himself, and felt disappointment knowing it had to take someone else's words to make him snap out of his sorry ass state. This reminded Al of when Ed completely shut himself out of everything after Nina Tucker's death and couldn't do his job as a State Alchemist properly for a while. "Mine. You're right. I'm sorry," Al said getting up. "Not just to Tatsumi, but to all of you here."

"Shake on it then with Tatsumi," the pink-haired assassin said pointing to Al and Tatsumi.

Both boys turned to one another nodding in agreement and shook each other's hands in truce. Al and Tatsumi smiled with confidence and relief as the tension surrounding them vanished. "You know. You're quite a cool kid," Tatsumi said to Al smiling.

"I can say the same," replied the young alchemist smiling back.

"Aww," Leone said as she grabbed the two boys and pressed them against her chest. "My little brothers are now besties!"

"Please stop crushing us," pleaded Al and Tatsumi in unison. Leone obeyed and released both boys.

"Come on Tatsumi," the busty blonde assassin exclaimed suddenly grabbing his right arm. "We still have a lot more of the base to explore."

"See you later then," said Tatsumi waving to Al and Sheele as Leone dragged him out of the meeting room.

"Okay?" Al replied waving back giving a confused look.

"Looks like I'm out of here also," Mine said walking away with a wave. "Take care you two."

The young alchemist nodded to Mine and sat back down beside Sheele to finish eating his breakfast. Al looked down at his eggs and meat before groaned. "Oh great. It got cold." He clasped his hands and placed the palms of both of them flat over the plate, emitting an electrical discharge making it hot again.

"Could you perhaps heat up my breakfast too Al?" Sheele asked with a sigh. "It got cold too."

"Sure," replied Al, clasping his hands to place them over Sheele's plate heating up her breakfast. Preparing to sit back down again, he thought of something. "I've been meaning to ask Sheele. What are you gonna train me in today?"

The purple-haired assassin placed her finger on her chin. Sheele had thought about what she should teach Alphonse, but it had slipped her mind. The light bulb in her head turned on again. "I remember," she exclaimed.

* * *

 _Later down by the river_

Alphonse climbed out of raging river onto a rocky ledge, panting heavily to catch his breath for having been underwater for so long. What held him down in the river was that he was wearing a suit of armor fitted for his body, minus a helmet. The young alchemist dragged himself on the ground while on his stomach, and then slowly stood up as he continued fighting the armor's weight that was crushing his body.

"This armor is heavy," panted Al.

"You did a good job swimming in it," commented Sheele, sitting on a rock nearby.

"Easy for you to say," replied Al. "My soul was bonded to a suit of armor for three years, thought I never expected that actually wearing one would drag me down."

"That's why I developed this training to build up your upper body strength," the purple-haired assassin explained raising a finger. "I don't do a lot around the base, so it leaves me plenty of free time to train you."

"How come?" Asked the young alchemist.

Sheele was silent for a moment before deciding to answer Al. "One time I was trying to help Akame cook, and I sort of angered her when I burned the meat. When I tried to clean, all I did was make a bigger mess for Bulat to clean up. Then there was a time I went shopping and accidentally mistook sugar for salt. Leone wouldn't stop laughing at me. And when I did laundry, I washed Mine with the clothes."

"I'm curious to know how that last one happened," muttered Al with a sweat drop on his forehead. A question then came to his mind. "Sheele. Is it true when everyone says you're an airhead?"

"Unfortunately yes," Sheele shyly answered getting up from the rock. "But it's really no big- Ah!" The purple-haired assassin's glasses slipped off her face. Sheele proceeded to kneel down, reaching everywhere on the ground to find them. "Oh no, not again. My glasses." Sheele then looked up at the blurry figure that was Al standing in front of her.

Unknown to Sheele, Al slightly blushed as he reached down to pick up the glasses at his feet, handing them back to Sheele. She could make out the shape of his hand as it approached her and took them back, adjusting them on her face. "If you don't mind me asking Sheele," Al said. "How did you join Night Raid if everyone knows you're an airhead?"

"It's a long story Al," the purple-haired assassin answered. "I grew up in the lower district of the Capital. Since I was young, no matter what I tried to do, I've always been clumsy. I couldn't find anything to be proud of. People always said behind my back that I had a screw loose in my head, and was bullied a lot for that. However, there was one person who wanted to be friends with despite knowing I was an airhead. No matter what kind of silly and clumsy mistakes I made, she never mocked me for them. The time I spent with her was the only thing I could say I liked about my life. Until one day, I was visiting her when an angry man arrived at her house. It was her ex-boyfriend. He resented being dumped by her and started getting violent because of the drugs he was on at the time. All of a sudden, he started choking her right in front of me. At that moment, the only thing I could think about doing was saving her, but I was calm in my mind. I grabbed a knife from her kitchen and slashed the man's throat while he wasn't paying attention to me. He died quickly, and my friend was shaken at seeing his corpse. But my mind was clear that whole time. The incident was eventually ruled as an act of self-defense, but my friend never wanted to see me after that."

"That's a sad story," Al said. "What happened then?"

"Not long after," Sheele continued. "I was confronted by several men who wanted revenge for the ex-boyfriend I killed. It turns out the ex was the second in command of a local gang. They told me they had killed my parents and that I was next. But instead of being scared, my mind was completely serene like before. I dodged one of the gang members attacks and used a knife I had with me to kill him in a vital spot. And then using him as a shield, I killed the remaining gang members one by one. After I killed them all, I finally understood. I did have a screw loose in my head, and it made me good at killing people. I could get rid of society's trash. I thought I finally found something that I wouldn't be useless at. The Revolutionary Army soon scouted me out to carry out assassinations in the Capital, and that's how I ended up in Night Raid."

"Sheele," exclaimed Al. "To me, you're not useless and you're not an airhead." Sheele was taken by surprise at Al's comment. No one had ever told her before that she was not an airhead. "It bothers me how people have treated you. We all make silly mistakes at one point in our lives, but that's why if we fail at something, we try again until we get it right until it's impossible for us to fail."

"You really believe that Al?" Asked Sheele.

"Of course," the young alchemist answered with a nod. "I knew someone like you in my world who felt like she couldn't do anything right because of her obsession with reading books and loosing focus on her job. But she actually had a secret talent of memorizing everything she read, and in turn, she indirectly helped us on our journey to get our bodies back. If you can take more pride in your talent of killing, then the others won't see you as an airhead."

Sheele was stunned by Al's compliment, but then she smiled at Al. "Thanks Al," she replied with a small bow. The purple-haired assassin's cheeks turned light red, thought she didn't notice it.

At that moment, Lubbock came slowly walking by the two, crying and his clothes dripping wet with water. "Lubbock?" Al said. "What's happened to you?"

"Hey Al," sniffed the green-haired assassin. "Don't mind me."

"He must have tried to peek at Leone while bathing and got thrown in the river," Sheele explained to Al with a small smile.

"I swear on my life I will get a glimpse of Leone's glorious tits," exclaimed Lubbock raising his fist in the air.

"*sigh* Somebody should have told brother and I that we had a pervert in the group," groaned Al. The young alchemist suddenly remembered Ed. "Come to think it, I wonder what brother is doing with Akame right now."

* * *

 _Meanwhile at the same time down river_

Edward stood by a large pit of fire cranking a handle that was turning a large dead bird. Akame, meanwhile, was tending to the burning logs, making sure the fire was still strong enough to cook the bird. "That was one big catch we got," quipped Ed. "What did you say this thing was called again?"

"Evilbird," answered Akame. "It's a very rare high class Danger Beast. It should be ready soon."

"Phew," sighed Ed as he let go of the handle, walking over to a chair and sat down. "I can see now why it put up a fight when we were trying to kill it." The older alchemist leaned back in the chair to rest from the long day he experienced.

Akame stared at the alchemist for a bit in silence. "Edward. Can I ask you something?"

Ed lifted up his head a little to look at the red-eyed assassin. "Mhm?"

"When you and Al were brought to the base a couple of days ago, you said something about having met me before," said Akame. This captured Ed's attention as he leaned upward.

"Oh that. Well," stammered Ed as he rubbed his chin with a nervous smile. "It's nothing really."

"Edward. I know you're hiding something," Akame said bluntly, causing Ed to slightly stiffen up.

"If I tried to tell you, it'd probably be too confusing for you to understand."

"You do remember that I can tell when you're telling the truth or lying."

Ed sighed as he struggled to find the words to tell Akame. "Do you remember when I told about how Al and I were heading back through the Gate from our world to Germany?"

"I do," Akame answered with a nod.

"Something happened along the way. I don't know how or why, but there were multiple visions flashing before me. Among those visions, I… I saw you," explained Ed. He looked up at Akame to see her giving off a puzzled look. "It wasn't just you. But I saw everyone else. Like I was being shown my future or something. And maybe, seeing those visions somehow must have altered my course through the Gate and sent Al and I here."

"Your theory is strange, but I could at least sense that you were telling the truth," Akame said.

"Sure is strange indeed," Najenda said walking towards the duo.

"Welcome back boss," the red-eyed assassin responded.

"You're back already?" The alchemist asked.

"I told you that I would be gone for a week," the silver-haired woman said as she said down on a chair set up.

"Here you go boss. A report on our mission three nights ago," Akame spoke as she tossed a folder. Najenda caught it and opened to look at its contents. As she read, Najenda pulled out a cigarette from her pocket and lit in in her mouth.

"Impressive. Looks like you and the rest of the team completed the task without any problems. Although…" The white-haired woman glanced at Ed, who stiffened up. "It appears that you, Al, and Leone went over the operation time."

"Gah! Please forgive us," Ed pleaded. "We had no idea there was a time limit!"

"Relax Edward. Since this was both yours and Al's first mission, I'll let you off the hook just once. As for Leone…" Najenda gave a smirk.

"Food's done," Akame said.

"About time! I'm starving," exclaimed Ed as he rushed back around to Akame.

"Here," Akame quipped as she tossed a piece of meat at Ed. Ed caught the meat with his right hand and blew on it to cool it down before taking a bite.

"This is quite good," Ed said. He bit into the cooked Evilbird again as he sat down on the ground while Akame sat in a chair next to him.

"Edward," the red-eyed assassin said as she took a bite. "I don't know much about alchemy nor this gate you mention. But those visions you had must have been a sign that you and Al were sent here for a reason."

The alchemist jerked his head up in surprise. "That never occurred to me," he replied. _Come to think of it, Alphonse said the same thing the day after we came here._ _But is that possible? There should only be two sides of the Gate. When I went through it before, I never had any visions of other worlds. So why now?_ Edward's thoughts popped as he heard the sound of voices approaching from behind and turned his head to see Leone and Tatsumi walking towards him and Akame.

"And you already know these two," Leone said to Tatsumi as he walked behind her.

"Well I know her name's Akame," Tatsumi responded as he stared at the red-eyed assassin. He eyes immediately shifted toward Edward. "You the guy who punched me the other night!"

"Yeah, what of it?" Asked Ed as he continued chewing. "I have a name too. It's Edward Elric."

"Right," the brown-haired boy nervously said. "Oh. I just want you to know that I apologized to your brother about what I did to him. I let my anger get the best of me because of what happened to Sayo and Ieyasu."

"All right then, it's cool," Edward said. "Just acknowledging what you did is good enough for me. Sorry for punching you in the face."

"Well I did deserve it," chuckled Tatsumi nervously.

"Guess everyone is getting along now," Leone exclaimed. "Yo Akame. Toss a piece of meat over here please."

"Mhm," mumbled Akame as she tossed a wing at Leone.

"Thanks!"

"How about you?" Akame said to Tatsumi. "Have you decided to join us?"

"No," he answered.

"Then I can't give you this meat."

Tatsumi's face turned soured at Akame's response. "I wasn't hungry anyway," he mumbled.

"Leone. The boss is back," Akame informed the blonde assassin. Leone looked over to the other side of the fire to see Najenda eating.

"Hey there," waved Najenda.

"Hey boss," Leone cheered. "Did you get me anything cool?"

"We can discuss that later. But first, how about that assignment where you went over the time limit," Najenda asked as she raised her creaking mechanical hand.

"Oh crap," the blonde assassin blurted as she stood frozen in place with a look of panic before taking off running in the opposite direction from the group. Najenda's mechanical hand shot out from her arm and grabbed Leone by her tube top. The hand slowly retracted dragging Leone on the ground.

"It's not good to draw out a long battle between you and a strong opponent," Najenda explained. "You should find a way to fix that habit of yours."

"I'll do it boss! Just please stop that screeching sound," shouted Leone as she covered her ears. Najenda then released her from her grip.

Edward looked on in silence with a wide-eyed expression on his face. He then looked down at his automail arm. "I wish my arm could do that," he said to himself.

"By the way, who is this boy?" Najenda asked when she noticed Tatsumi.

"Meet Tatsumi," Leone answered as she slapped the brown boy's back. "He's our newest member."

"Hey I haven't joined anything yet," Tatsumi shouted back.

"Does he show promise?" Najenda asked again.

"He does," replied Leone as she looked at him, thinking back to when Tatsumi killed that rich girl. "Give it a try! You'll like it!"

"Plus the pay is good," Edward stated.

"This is a part time job?" Tatsumi exclaimed.

"Akame," Najenda said as she stood up and swung her jacket over her shoulder. "Gather everyone in the meeting hall. I want to hear about the results of your last mission in detail, including this boy."

Akame nodded and stood up. "We're heading back Edward."

"Right," the alchemist quipped.

* * *

 _Night Raid base several minutes later_

Ed slowly walked alongside Akame as they approached the entrance of the base. He then saw Alphonse running outside towards him. "Brother! Akame," he shouted. "Where have you been? Sheele told me you went hunting today."

"We did," replied Ed. "I suppose your training with her went well?"

"Um, sort of," Al said.

"We're meeting in the main hall," Akame said turning towards them.

Minutes later in the main hall, Akame and Leone had finished explaining to Najenda their recent mission and how they convinced Tatsumi to come along with them afterwards. The white-haired woman sat on her throne with her hand on chin. "I see. It all makes sense. Tatsumi. How you like to join Night Raid?"

"Well are you going to kill me if I say no?" Tatsumi asked.

"No, but you won't be able to leave the base. You'll just have to do laboring tasks like Edward and Alphonse since they're also new here."

Tatsumi turned around toward the brothers. "Seriously? I had no idea you guys were newbies!"

"It's not as bad as she says," Alphonse said. "Cooking, mopping, washing clothes. The basic stuff."

"So Tatsumi," Najenda continued. "What is you decision?"

Tatsumi turned back towards Najenda and looked down with his fists clenched and shaking. "My friends and I were planning on making it big in the Capital to become successful to save our village, which is suffering from poverty. But now I have seen just how corrupt it is."

"Places like your village suffer because of the Capital's corruption," Bulat explained leaning on a pillar. "Don't you want to be a man and uproot the source of the corruption?"

"But you can't let your emotions get in the way of doing this work if you only decide to join for revenge," explained Najenda. Tatsumi was taken by surprise at her comment. "I read that you threatened Alphonse because he didn't save your friends and that Edward stepped in to separate you two."

"That's right. My head wasn't in the right place at the time," Tatsumi admitted. "I was so enraged at seeing the condition my friends were in that I lost my senses. But I promise you it won't happen again. For Sayo, Ieyasu, and for my village, I'll join you. I'll join Night Raid!"

"You won't be able to freely return to your village," Mine said.

"I'm fine with that. Just wanting to make them happy is all I care about," the brown-haired boy said.

"Hmph," mumbled Mine as she stared at Tatsumi. _I can give him credit for having fortitude._

"It's settled," exclaimed Najenda. "Welcome to the path of carnage Tatsumi. Everyone, you are dismissed for the night."

* * *

 _Later that evening_

Tatsumi walked down the hall to his room as emotions swirled through his head. There was no turning back for him. He had made his decision and would do whatever it took to save his village. If Sayo and Ieyasu were with him, they would have likely done the same thing he did. One of the doors opened with Alphonse coming out of his room. "Ah hey Alphonse."

"Oh Tatsumi. Heading to bed? I was just going to quickly ask Akame something," Al said. "And congrats on deciding to join."

"Thanks Al. By the way I'm curious to know how you and Ed joined and why," Tatsumi replied.

"I think I'll tell you about tomorrow when I can, because it's pretty long," the younger alchemist answered, raising his fist. "Until then, good night."

"Yeah, good night," Tatsumi cheerfully said as he pounded his fist against Al's. He then continued to walk towards his room.

Alphonse then walked down the hall to Akame's room and reached it, knocking on her door. "Akame," Al called out. "Sorry to disturb you, but I need to ask you something." The door slowly opened to reveal Akame wearing a pink nightgown.

"Is something wrong Alphonse?"

"Not really. This morning you didn't wake me up for training nor did you take me hunting along with brother," Al explained.

"Mhm. That's why I asked Sheele to train you," she answered.

"But I want to know why."

"You and Edward don't need to constantly train under me anymore."

"What?" Al was surprised by Akame's response.

"I decided you and Edward will continue to train yourselves," the red-eyed assassin explained. "The others and I may briefly train and take you on small missions from time to time. You shouldn't be too dependent on someone to become stronger."

Al was amazed by Akame's decision to let him and his brother have free reign over the continuation of their training. The young alchemist gave a smile of confidence. "Thanks Akame. I know what I have to do now. Good night," he said before quickly walking back to his room. His straightened his shoulders with confidence as he looked ahead.

 _I have to get stronger,_ Al thought. _Or else on the next mission I go on, I could die. It is going to be a long road for me, but I have to do it._

* * *

 **Thank you once again for your patience on waiting for this chapter. The ending was written with no preplanning whatsoever, so leave your reviews on whether you enjoyed reading it. Until next time, take care.**


	8. Chapter 8: Kill the Bandits

_Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revolutionary Assassins_

Chapter 8: Kill the Bandits

 **Disclaimer:** ** _Fullmetal Alchemist_** **is owned by Hiromu Arakawa, and** ** _Akame ga Kill_** **is owned by Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro.**

 **Hello everyone. I know it has been five months since I published the last chapter for this story, and I deeply apologize again. College was hell for me this past semester, plus I had gotten a part time job selling kitchen cutlery. I finished my junior year and recently started my senior year. I suffered again from writer's block; so I had to go back and watch** ** _Akame ga Kill_** **and reread the manga to get in the mood again. Thanks for listening and enjoy.**

* * *

"Gah!" Alphonse grunted as he punched the air with his left fist. He had been training by himself in the courtyard of Night Raid's base for the entire morning. Punching the air again, he quickly ducked and drew a transmutation circle in the dirt, creating a metal pole and swung it around as soon as he grabbed it. Al swung the pole outward. Breathing heavily, the young alchemist wiped off the sweat running down his face.

"Hey Al!"

The sound of someone calling out Al's name snapped him out of focus. The boy turned to see Tatsumi leaning against the entrance. "Tatsumi. I didn't notice you."

"You sure are working hard. How about I train with you?"

"Sure," Al replied. He then transmuted another metal pole, tossing it to the brown haired boy as he walked over. "Hope you are awake enough to face me."

"Hmph! I would not get overconfident," Tatsumi chuckled, immediately charging at the young alchemist. Al swung his pole, with Tatsumi quickly blocking his attack, pushing Al's pole out of the way and lurched forward, hitting him in the left shoulder. Al winced from the pain, though it did not slow him from taking a swing at Tatusmi's neck. The brown hair boy again blocked his attack. As Al thought of a way to get through to Tatsumi, he glanced up to notice someone coming up from behind Tatsumi. He grinned, flip jumping over Tatsumi.

"What are you doing Al? Oof!" Before Tatsumi could even turn around completely, he was met with an elbow to the face from Bulat, falling to the ground. "Geez Bulat, what was that for?"

"You should be more mindful of your surroundings," answered Bulat. "If you are not, the enemy will strike you down before you know it." As the muscular man finished talking, Alphonse charged from behind, swing his pole, only to have Bulat grab it without looking backward. "But I am surprised to see you improving Alphonse. You training all morning must have helped. What's up?"

"I see you noticed," said Al as Bulat released his grip from the pole. "Let's just say Akame motivated me to keep moving on my own."

 _Flashback to last night_

 _"I decided you and Edward would continue to train yourselves," Akame explained. "The others and I may briefly train and take you on small missions from time to time. You shouldn't be too dependent on someone to become stronger."_

 _End flashback_

 _Don't worry Akame,_ thought Al. _I'll be sure to take your advice very seriously._

"It looks like you're becoming a man kid! You've grown a lot and it hasn't even been a month since you joined us," Bulat exclaimed, patting Al's back hard, throwing him off balance. "But I say you've done enough training for the morning."

"Guess you're right," the young alchemist replied. Almost immediately, his stomach growled loudly. "I am pretty hungry." Al sprinted towards the door, looking back at Bulat and Tatsumi, waving at them. "See you inside!"

"Sure thing," answered Tatsumi, preparing to walk back in, only to have Bulat place his hand on his right shoulder. "Hmm? What's up?"

"Don't feel too down Tatsumi," the muscular assassin said. "I know you have potential within you. But you'll have to catch up with Alphonse, and I'll be there to guide you."

"Really Bulat?"

"Yep. And by the way, call me Bro. It's a lot less formal, and I feel we'll able to connect more," Bulat explained, with his voice becoming more seductive.

"I wouldn't want to get **too** connected," muttered Tatsumi, shivering at the tone of Bulat's voice, slowly removing the other assassin's hand from his shoulder and walking away. _How long is he gonna keep hitting on me?_

* * *

 _Later that morning_

Alphonse leaned against the wall in the meeting room waiting for Edward to arrive. "I sure hope brother didn't oversleep," he said to himself. His words couldn't have come at a more perfect time, as Edward entered the room.

"What's up Alphonse?" The older alchemist muttered as he yet out a long yawn.

"How did you feel oversleeping brother?" Al asked. "It looks like I have gotten a step ahead of you in training."

"Knock it off. I have been training my ass constantly too," groaned Ed. "So do you know the plan for today?"

"According to Akame, we are supposed to be with Mine," answered Al. "And Tatsumi is joining us too."

"Well I don't know about you guys," Tatsumi intruded as he walked into the room. "But I am seriously not forward to spending a whole day with her."

"You could say that again," replied Ed.

"Perhaps your minds will change about her after today," Najenda said, who had followed Tatsumi into the room.

"We'll have to see," muttered Ed. "Speaking of Mine, where is she? She didn't oversleep too did she?"

"It's normal for her to wake up late," answered Najenda. "I'll go get her." A smirk appeared on the white haired assassin's face before she took a step. "On second thought, Tatsumi. You go wake her up."

Tatsumi's eyes widened with surprise. "Huh? Why me?"

"You are one of her subordinates for today. Waking her up is part of an assassin's job."

The brown haired boy groaned. "Okay fine. I'll go do it," he said walking off.

"Is that really a rule Ms. Najenda?" Alphonse asked.

"More like a test. I specifically selected Tatsumi for a certain reason," Najenda replied, taking out a cigarette and lighting it.

Alphonse and Ed looked at each other with confused faces, unable to decipher what Najenda had meant. Seconds later, the distant sound of Mine's screams pierced the hall where the brothers and Najenda were at, followed by that of an explosion. Without a moment to lose, the Elric Brothers ran off towards Mine's room. Once they were close enough to her room, Ed and Al saw two giant holes, one where the door of Mine's room was supposed to be, and the other in the outer wall of the base.

"What the hell," exclaimed Ed, looking out the hole to see smoke billowing far off in the forest. "Tatsumi! Mine! Are you two o-kaay?" Both brothers, with jaws dropped and wide eyes, gawked at Mine holding her Teigu, Pumpkin, while wearing nothing but pink panties and a bra.

"Get back you two," yelled Tatsumi as he peaked out from behind the wall of Mine's room. "She nearly killed me!"

"Well I missed," yelled Mine. "How dare you dodge my attack when you deserve to die! And now I know you Elric Brothers are just as lewd as Tatsumi!"

"How are Al and I perverts," interfered Ed. "We did not come up here expecting you to be in your freaking underwear!"

"Maybe so," Mine rebutted, charging up Pumpkin. "But have you ever heard of a thing called **KNOCKING!?** " Mine fired Pumpkin again. Al, Ed, and Tatsumi screamed ducking for cover from the pink haired assassin's attacks as she continuously aimed at the boys, causing destruction in the base.

Another shot came from Pumpkin, nearly blowing away the Fullmetal Alchemist. **"Go get dressed you petite devil,"** screamed Ed. **"Perhaps you'll stop trying to kill us?"**

 **"I dare you to say that again stocky dwarf!"**

 **"How about baby pygmy!?"**

 **"You look like a little red runt!"**

Ed froze stiff as those three words struck him like an avalanche. "Little… red…" The alchemist slowly whimpered the words.

"That's what I thought," Mine exclaimed as she prepared to fire Pumpkin again.

"Guys." Everyone stopped the commotion they were causing and looked to see Akame standing idly by with no expression on her face. Everyone's faces blushed in embarrassment at her presence.

"Akame! Thank goodness," Ed said relieved. "Please do something about this psycho before she kills all three of us."

"You should all get ready for battle. Lubbock just detected enemies near our base," the red-eyed assassin said before quickly running back down the hall.

"Wait what?" Alphonse asked. He was not expecting to go fight and kill unless he and the other members of Night Raid were called out on a mission. Ed patted his younger brother on the back as he rushed passed him following Akame.

"Get you head together Al," Ed exclaimed. Al nodded without hesitation and took off running to catch up with his older brother.

"You wouldn't mind if I join you. I was ready to get the hell out of that mess back there," Tatsumi said as he dashed up alongside the brothers.

"I don't. And you just read my mind," Edward replied.

"Next time that happens again, I don't think any of us will be lucky," Alphonse followed up.

* * *

 _In the forest_

Night Raid had been informed on the intruders that set off Lubbock's barrier threads on his Teigu. According to the information provided by Lubbock, at least ten intruders were counted based on the reactions from his threads, though he warned of the possibility of more. By the time the assassin group had reach the region of the forest where the intruders were detected, everyone had split up into groups. Akame went on by herself, Mine and Sheele paired up, Leone went solo, as well as Lubbock, and the last group consisted of Edward, Alphonse, Tatsumi, and Bulat.

Meanwhile near a river several miles west of Night Raid's base, Akame found her facing three bandits who were grouped up. "That's her," one of the bandits exclaimed. "The red-eyed girl from the wanted posters. If she's here, then that means Night Raid's base must be located nearby! Looks like our search paid off."

"You gotta admit she is cute," the second bandit said in a perverted tone.

"Heh. Perhaps we can have a little fun with her body once she's dead," the third bandit joked with a sinister grin on his face. Akame was unfazed by the bandits' remarks. Without hesitation, she unsheathed her Teigu Murasame and slashed the throats of all three bandits without either one of them noticing. The bandits were further caught by surprise when they noticed Akame standing behind them.

"You three are too relaxed in enemy territory," Akame said emotionless as she stared at the ground.

"How did she…?" Before one of the bandits could complete his question, he suddenly found himself gurgling blood as his neck bled profusely. A second later, he collapsed to the ground lying dead.

The bandit to his right immediately suffered the same fate. _She is so fast,_ the second bandit thought as he collapsed.

"Shit," the last bandit muttered as he clutched his throat to press the bleeding. "If I'm gonna die, at least I'll take you down with…" Just as he began to raise his blade, the bandit soon became paralyzed. "…me?" The bandit noticed black marking creeping all over his body. "No! Her sword was poisoned?" He then fell to his knees, dying as his body became enveloped with the black markings.

"All it takes is one slash, and it is sudden death," Akame said looking back at the corpses on the ground. She proceeded to swipe the blood from Murasame's blade, causing the blood to splatter on the ground, and then placed Murasame back in its sheath.

* * *

Not too far away, one of the group's bandits was sprinting at full speed down a dirt road. _The enemy has detected us,_ the bandit thought to himself. _Which means their base is close. I cannot let this information go to waste. I better report back to the Capital to deliver this!_

Half a mile behind him at the top of a cliff, Mine was lying down on her stomach looking through her sniper scouter while positioning her Teigu Pumpkin. "He's very far away," she said to herself. "Looks like I'll have to expose myself to get a better shot." Mine stood up to get repositioned for the shot. Suddenly, another bandit leaped out from the shrubs behind her. Anticipating that this would occur, the pink-haired assassin mischievously grinned without turning her head.

Sheele, who had been hiding nearby, sprinted out from behind the bandit and sliced him in half with her Teigu Extase at his abdomen. "I'm sorry," Sheele quietly apologized as blood spewed on her face.

"Thanks Sheele," complimented Mine as she turned towards her comrade and friend, proceeding to return her attention to the target. "Since I was in danger, Pumpkin's power will now increase." The pink-haired assassin pulled the trigger, launching a stream of energy at the bandit far away, obliterating him and leaving behind no corpse. "Right on target!"

Elsewhere, Leone was sitting on top of a man's corpse. Her animal ears perked up when she detected the distant sound of an explosion. "Oh. That must have been Mine's Pumpkin. I still wonder why she even bothered choosing that bothersome Teigu, whereas I can just go into beast mode and beat the crap out of my opponents until they're dead." The blonde assassin grinned as she cracked her bloodstained knuckles.

* * *

In a cave not too far from Leone, Lubbock had entangled in his wire trap a dark-skinned girl. The girl winced in pain as the sharp wires dug into her flesh. "I though the weight of my wire threads felt light, but it turns out it was a girl. Go figure."

"Save me, please," the girl pleaded with desperation. "I'll do anything!"

"No can do babe," Lubbock answered. "I knew a guy who got himself killed by someone's seduction." The green-haired assassin flexed his fingers on the threads, causing them to further tearing into the girl's body. Without a scream, the girl took one last breath, slumping forward. Lubbock released his threads as he turned around, dropping the dead girl's body onto the ground. He stopped momentarily to turn and look at the girl's corpse, sighing and scratching the back of his head. "Ah man. Why does this job have to suck sometimes?"

* * *

As for Edward, Alphonse, and Tatsumi, the three newcomers were instructed by Bulat to hide out in some shrubs. "So can anyone tell me what we are doing here again? Because it looks like Bulat doesn't think we are capable of handling enemies on our own," Tatsumi asked impatiently.

"He told us if the enemy were to run away, they would likely come through here," answered Ed. "We should do our best to slow them down as much as we can."

"Ah gotcha," Tatsumi replied sarcastically. "It just feels like this role is total newbie." A bush in front of the trio began to rustle, alerting them to prepare for battle. Instead of the enemy, a small rabbit hopped out, allowing the boys to breathe a sigh.

"My heart raced for a second there," Al said. A memory came back to the young alchemist and grinned. "Hey brother. Remember when we hunted a rabbit like that back on Yock Island?"

"Oh yeah. The first time we caught one we were both scared to kill it," laughed Ed. "And look where we are…" The older alchemist's sentence was cut off as a man with the head of a wolf sprinted out from the woods. Ed, Al, and Tatusmi leaped to their feet, with the Elric Brothers transmuting weapons and Tatsumi drawing his sword.

"So there were some Night Raid members stationed here," the wolf-man bandit said.

"We ain't letting you pass," Edward proclaimed. "You are outnumbered three to one so you might as well give up!"

"Ha," laughed the wolf-man. "Who said I was alone puny humans?"

 **"What was that?"** Ed screamed upon hearing the wolf-man bandit's insult towards his height. The bandit snapped his fingers, and two human bandits emerged from the trees.

"Brother! I wouldn't worry about his words at this moment," exclaimed Alphonse as he got into a battle stance with his metal spear. _This is the chance to redeem myself. I won't hesitate like I did that night. If I do, I will die!"_

"Bring it on humans," the wolf-man bandit shouted, unsheathing his sword. "I won't hold back!"

* * *

Several miles to the east, Mine and Sheele were lounging near a fallen tree waiting for the rest of Night Raid to regroup and return to the base. "I wonder if those guys are dead. Especially that brown-haired brat," Mine pondered as she balanced herself whiling walking on the fallen tree.

"It doesn't seem like they are," Sheele said to her friend and comrade.

"Well there's a rare evaluation coming from you," the pink-haired assassin replied as she sat down on the tree.

"Tatsumi did fight Akame and survive. And she said that when she crossed swords with him, he's a cluster of potential," explained Sheele. "She also said something similar about Al and Ed."

* * *

Over at the fight between the three Night Raid members and the bandits, it appeared Ed, Al, and Tatsumi had the upper hand. The two bandits the wolf-man had called out were cut down easy, but now the boys' biggest concern was the wolf-man himself, who was twice as strong and fast as his companions. "My comrades may have not stood a chance, but I'll be the one to take you humans out," the wolf-man proclaimed, swinging his sword at Tatsumi.

The brown-haired assassin deflected the attack; swinging his sword swiftly to land a critical hit on the wolf-man, cutting across his bare chest, throwing him off balance. "Hey guys. This is your chance," Tatsumi shouted to the Elric Brothers.

"All right," Ed and Al responded in unison. Ed swung his bladed arm with an uppercut and Al drove his metal spear into the wolf-man's abdomen, falling to the ground as blood spewed out from him.

"How was that?" Tatsumi asked the wolf-man as he panted heavily. "Sayo and Ieyasu… They live on with us. Their strength is our strength!"

"Wait," the wolf-man bandit pleaded as he held his hand out. "Let me go. I have a village…" Alphonse cut off the beast's plea for mercy, driving his spear into his abdomen again, killing him for good.

"Sorry. But we don't have time to listen to your weak words," Alphonse said coldly. Ed and Tatsumi were stunned by Al's rhetoric.

"What's gotten into you Alphonse? I haven't heard you talk like that in like… ever," Ed asked.

As the younger alchemist stood up, his hardened serious face softened a bit as he turned to his older brother. "Oh! Well… Perhaps I'm just trying to grow more accustomed to this assassin thing."

"Well you have a point," Ed replied. _But something must have happened for your attitude to change like that._

"Hyah!" Bulat came running out from the forest in his armor Incursio. "The enemy must have passed by here, right? Leave the rest to me!"

"No need to bro. We took care of it," Tatsumi explained.

"Huh? Then I guess I didn't need to do anything," Bulat said. "You three have more potential than I anticipated. Let's get back with the rest of the gang and report to Najenda!"

A little further away in the forest, Akame watched the four men walk away. In fact, she had been watching the battle unfold before her the entire time, and only planned to interfere if Ed, Al, and Tatsumi struggled. _Each of them has steadily improved since joining us,_ the red-eyed assassin thought to herself. _The advice I gave to Alphonse last night motivated him. I also seemed to have underestimated Tatsumi a little._ Akame then turned her attention towards the older Elric Brother. _Edward. I don't what it is about you that interests me, but I am willing to see more of your strength._

* * *

 _Later that evening, Night Raid's base_

"Nice work during the battle today you three," Najenda said, smiling at the Elric Brothers and Tatsumi. The rest of Night Raid was behind the gang celebrating their victory over the bandits that had intruded in their territory. "Edward, Alphonse. You improved a lot from your first mission. As for Tatsumi, you put up a good fight considering this was your first battle with Night Raid."

"Sure thing," the three boys said in union.

"Though for Tatsumi, Akame did report that you are open for more improvement. In order for you to survive, I see that you need someone to teach you. Starting tomorrow, you will have Akame train you."

Tatsumi was surprised by Najenda's order. "What?"

The white-haired assassin turned to Akame as she ate a piece of meat "Will you agree to train him?" Akame gave a simple expressionless nod.

 _She agreed to the boss's request just like that?_ Tatsumi shockingly thought.

"Hey man," Ed said as he got up close to his ear. "I'm going to give you this advice. If you do well she won't kill you." Tatsumi's eyes widened at what Ed said. "Don't worry. Al and I had the same reaction as you when Najenda paired us up with her."

"I can't believe it," Tatsumi replied quietly. "For someone cute like her, she seems like kind of a weirdo."

"By the way," Najenda continued, capturing the attention of the boys. "I have decided to hold off on having Mine train you three."

"There's some good news," exclaimed Tatsumi. "It should give her enough time to cool down after that incident this morning which…" Tatsumi paused before glaring at Najenda. "We nearly got killed, and you predicted this would happen right boss?"

"Who's knows," Najenda answered with a sly smile as she pulled out a cigarette.

 _Damn it! Her smile gave it away,_ thought the brown-haired assassin.

* * *

 **That concludes my long awaited eighth chapter. Next chapter will center on the battle with General Orge. Until then, take care!**


	9. Chapter 9: Kill the Officials

_Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revolutionary Assassins_

Chapter 9: Kill the Officials

 **Disclaimer:** ** _Fullmetal Alchemist_** **is owned by Hiromu Arakawa, and** ** _Akame ga Kill_** **is owned by Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro.**

* * *

"Come on Tatsumi! You almost got it," Edward said as Tatsumi was close to drawing a completed transmutation circle in the dirt. Once Tatsumi connected the lines of one of the triangles intertwined with the circles, he breathed a sigh.

"Thanks for deciding to take the time to teach me about alchemy," the brown-haired boy said to the older brother. Last night at the party, Tatsumi had approached Ed and Alphonse on wanting to learn about alchemy and possibly becoming an alchemist. The Elric Brothers were not hesitant to accept Tatsumi's request, as they were sure another alchemist would be beneficial to Night Raid.

"It's good that we can finally move on were learning how to perform alchemy," Ed responded. "After well… eleven attempts to get you to draw a perfect circle." The older alchemist glanced over to see Tatsumi's failed attempts at drawing a transmutation circle. Some of the drawings appeared to be ovals, while some were disconnected circles.

"Hey it's not my fault that I'm not an artist," Tatsumi stated with embarrassment. "Anyhow I'm ready to do some alchemy! So what should I transmute first? A weapon? A sculpture? Oh I know! How about I use it make my own sword stronger!"

"Whoa now! Don't get too ahead of yourself," warned Al. "Let's just start with transmuting something simple. Like… a block!"

"Okay fine," pouted Tatsumi.

 _Well I can give Tatsumi credit for being passionate about doing this,_ Al thought. "Anyways, let's go over what brother and I taught you. Can you answer what alchemy is?"

"Like you said," Tatsumi answered. " It's a science of understanding matter's structure, destroying it and then recreating it. Of course there was that thing you mentioned about equivalent exchange."

"You got it nailed down," Edward responded. "Now see if you can use what we taught you to transmute a block."

"All right. Here goes nothing," Tatsumi said. He slowly placed the palms of his hands on the edge of the circle. A bright blue light emerged from the outline of his circle as something began to emerge from the center along with some electric discharge. What was expected to a block came out as a spike shot up from the dirt, angled directly at Tatsumi's head. Tatsumi gasped in panic as he raised his hands quickly, being lucky enough to have the tip of the spike stop at three centimeters from between his eyes.

"Tatsumi," shouted Al with concern. "Are you okay?

"* **gasp** ***** I'm fine," the brown-haired boy said, breathing heavily, thinking that he was going to die. "What the hell was that supposed to be?"

"Maybe you will need a little more training before we can move on to how to use alchemy in battle," Edward said.

"Like how? Do I need to train my mind?"

"Not really. A transmutation is based on how much matter you dealing with in an object," explained the older assassin. "Mind training does not determine how strong your transmutation will be. But I guess Al and I should have gone more into the deep scientific stuff."

"Oh great. More learning," moaned Tatsumi.

"Hey now," Edward said. "If you quit that moaning of yours, we can get through this a lot faster."

Tatsumi took the older alchemist's advice and forced himself enough to get on with the training. A whole hour went by as Ed and Al went into depth on the complexities of alchemy and the science that went with it. Because Tatsumi was not as literate or skilled in writing compared to the brothers, there was a brief break where notes were written for him as reference. By the end of the hour, Tatsumi had learned enough from the Elric Brothers to attempt to perform alchemy again.

"Are you sure you are ready to try again with your alchemy?" Ed asked.

"Considering the fact my brain hurts from taking in all that info," Tatsumi answered. "Sure why not?"

"Okay then," Al responded. "Draw a transmutation circle."

The brown-haired boy prepared to use his finger to draw in the dirt when he heard a familiar voice call out for him and the Elric Brothers. "Edward, Alphonse, Tatsumi," Akame said standing in the doorway wearing her pink apron. "It's time to cook breakfast."

"Dang it," Tatsumi moaned again. "I was about to show off my improved alchemy!"

"We can try again after breakfast, so don't get too down about it," Al said.

"Perhaps," replied Tatsumi. "Hey Al. I've been curious. You can do transmutations without drawing a circle too right?"

"Not exactly," the younger alchemist answered. "I can do transmutations because of these gloves." Al lifted his covered hands to show Tatsumi the backside of them. On each glove was a transmutation circle. "My alchemy teacher made them after she finished training me during the time I had lost my memory. It was a parting gift from her before she died."

"I'm sorry to hear about that Al. She would probably be proud of you for having been reunited with Ed and saving your world from that invasion you talked about," Tatsumi said. Al nodded at his friend's response.

"Well let's go back inside. I don't want to see you get too saddened," Ed said to the two boys as he placed one hand on each of their shoulders. "Besides I'm quite interested to see what we are gonna cook today."

* * *

 _Several minutes later_

Akame, Al, Ed, and Tatsumi stood at the kitcher counter taking on different tasks for making breakfast for the other members of Night Raid. While the Elric Brothers were relaxed in doing their tasks, Tatsumi was a bit on the edge. "Hey Tatsumi," Al exclaimed. "You don't have a problem cooking with us do you?"

"Oh no," the brown-haired boy answered. "I learned to cook with my friends before leaving our village. And I'm glad to have done so, but…"

"More please," Mine said from behind the boys as she held up her bowl, annoying Tatsumi.

"I feel like I'm being treated by the others as just the cook," Tatsumi muttered to the younger alchemist as he grinded his teeth. "Every day I have done mostly nothing except make everyone's' meals."

"It can't be helped," Akame said looking towards Tatsumi, overhearing the conversation between the two boys. "I am responsible for cooking the meals. Naturally, that duty falls upon the three of you." The red-eyed assassin took a grape from the plate on the counter and ate it.

Tatsumi looked on as Akame at the grape. "Are you sure you're cooking, or are you just sampling the ingredients?"

"That's not true," Akame bluntly answered.

 _Yep. She's a terrible liar all right_ , Ed thought.

"I've been meaning to say this, but those cooking apron really suit you newcomers," Mine taunted the boys. Tatsumi became more agitated at hearing the pink-haired girl mock him. Her taunts also annoyed the Elric Brothers, though Alphonse was not as easily annoyed as Edward.

"What was that you…" Ed was about to go off on Mine as he turned around, pausing himself when he noticed that she, Bulat, Lubbock, and Sheele, had their Teigu at their sides. "Hold on. Are you all going somewhere?"

"Yep," Mine said. "We just got a request to kill someone in the Capital."

"Request?" Tatsumi parroted with confusion. "Wait! Why weren't we informed about this? We could have gone along with you!"

"Just make sure you take care of the place while we are gone," Sheele said.

"See you dorks later. Enjoy staying here being housemaids," Mine said laughing as she left the room waving.

"Grrrr! How long is she gonna keep pissing me off," Tatsumi growled.

"Someday we'll find a way to get back at her," Ed muttered to his friend.

"I'm with you on that," the brown-haired boy said, fist-bumping the older alchemist.

The three boys and Akame moved on to cleaning up the kitchen. Tatsumi and Al handled rearranging the table while Ed and Akame washed dishes. As Al set down one of the recently cleaned plates, he glanced over at his brother and Akame. Watching them wash dishes suddenly brought about a memory.

* * *

 _Resembool, 1902_

 _A two-year old Alphonse walked aimlessly around the house looking for a place to hide from Edward. The two had decided earlier to play hide and seek for fun. As Al searched for a good hiding place, he passed by the kitchen, deciding that it would be the best place to hide from his brother. He took a peek inside and noticed his mother and father, Trisha and Hohenheim, at the counter standing beside each other. The younger brother looked a bit closer, and noticed the two were actually washing dishes from this morning's breakfast._

 _"…eighteen, nineteen, twenty," young Ed's voice called out in the distance. "Here I come Alphonse!" Al did not hear his brother's voice or the sound of his footsteps as he ran down the hall. "Got you Al," the older brother exclaimed, grabbing Al by the shoulders._

 _Al was startled by his brother's actions. He had briefly forgotten he had been playing with Ed. "Shh," whispered Al, returning his attention to his parents._

 _Not sure what Al was doing, he glanced up to look at his parents. At that moment, Trisha and Hohenheim turned their heads and stared at each other, smiling. The moment captivated both Elric Brothers, then they two stared at each other, unsure of how to describe the rare event that was witnessed before them._

 _End flashback_

* * *

Al continued staring at his brother and Akame. He could not figure out why the image in front of him reminded him of that distinct childhood memory. _Nah. What am I thinking? Brother and Akame are not like that,_ the young alchemist thought. _Though I have noticed Akame seeming to blush around him sometimes._

"Al," Tatsumi called out, and snapped his fingers, bringing Al back to reality. "Hey man. You spaced out for nearly a minute. Are you feeling well?"

"Uh yeah," Al answered with surprise. "I'm one hundred percent okay. I'd tell you if something was wrong." He returned to doing what he did before he dozed off in his flashback. Tatsumi did not even make an attempt to respond, and returned to his job.

At the counter, Ed was inspecting a plate to make sure it was clean enough before setting it down. Akame finished cleaning her plate, and was about to grab another one when her left hand slipped, accidently touching Ed's automail right hand. She quickly pulled back and blushed in embarrassment. She hoped Ed did not notice it.

The older alchemist was about to grab another plate to wash when he noticed Akame's face was flushed. "Akame?"

"Heh?" The red-eyed assassin glanced over at Ed.

"I noticed your face looked red. Are you sick?"

"N-no," Akame stuttered, attempting to regain her stoic composure. She patted her face to remove any sign of her blushing until she was comfortable enough to properly respond to Ed. "Any way, we should head out to hunt for dinner." She untied her hair and took off her apron, quickly leaving the kitchen.

"What do you suppose that was about Al?" Tatsumi asked the younger assassin as he leaned in.

"I'm just as lost as you," replied Al.

Ed himself was confused at Akame's behavior. There was no way for her to say she was fine when her face was blushing bright red. He decided he was not going to let what happened earlier side, and was determined to get to the bottom of this situation.

* * *

 _Thirty minutes later, in the forest_

"We're pretty far from the base don't you think Akame?" Ed asked the red-eyed assassin as he, Al, and Tatsumi, followed behind her up an incline. The four of them were carrying wooden baskets on their backs, which meant to the boys the prey they were going to hunt must be big for tonight's dinner.

"The place we are heading is far up in the mountains," Akame explained.

"Makes sense," Ed said under his breath. The older alchemist glanced up ahead of him to see a break in the forest. "It looks like we are here."

"Correct," Akame said, as the group stepped out of the bushes.

The three boys set down their baskets, gazing in awe at the sight before them. In front of them was a small isolated lake with a waterfall. "This is a cool place," Tatsumi exclaimed.

"Our job is to eliminate the underwater prey in the lake," Akame instructed, taking off her shirt and skirt.

"So we're gonna be- HOLY CRAP! WHY ARE YOU GETTING NAKED? Ed shouted, even surprising Al and Tatsumi. The boys proceeded to cover their faces so as to not get mistaken for being perverts.

"What's wrong?" Akame asked. Ed uncovered his eyes, noticing the red-eyed assassin was wearing a white bikini. "I wear this for greater mobility in the water." The other boys also uncovered their eyes when they noticed Akame had not completely striped down.

"Uh… okay then," Ed responded nervously, letting out a sigh of relief while also hiding his widened facial expression and blushing at the sight of Akame's sexy slender body. _She looks cute in that swimwear. But damn it Edward, why did you have to make a fool of yourself just now?_

"Listen up. Our targets are the giant tuna which live at the bottom of the lake," the red-eyed assassin explained to the boys.

"Sounds easy enough," the older alchemist replied. "Well I guess I better take off my clothes to swim easily too."

"Wait a minute brother," Al said. "You can't swim with your automail. It will weigh you down."

"Oh yeah I forgot about that," Ed said with disappointment, pulling down his shirt.

"You can handle our load of prey on the way back," Akame said walking to the ledge. Without wasting another second, she dived into the water.

"That's pretty far down," Al said. "Just how are we supposed to bring the tuna back up?" His question was unexpectedly answered when five giant tuna shot up from the water, landing in Akame's wooden basket. "Was that a bomb?" Akame emerged from the water to catch her breath.

"There is a trick to catching these kinds of fish," Akame said. "Mask your presence and swim along the lakebed. Once your prey closes in, that is when you strike. You will have to be quick in order to succeed. Tatsumi! Alphonse! Can you two handle it?"

"Heh! Of course," Tatsumi said with a grin pulling off his shirt, followed by Al.

"Bring it on!" The two boys shouted as they dived in.

* * *

 _That night, Night Raid's Base_

"In conclusion, it looks like Tatsumi caught three tuna and Alphonse caught four," Najenda said, taking a bite out of the grilled prey hunted that afternoon. "You two boys did a good job for your first time fishing."

"It's a shame my automail kept me from doing nothing except for helping to bring the fish home," Edward grumbled, playing with his food.

"You still were a big help to us brother," Alphonse said, complimenting his older brother.

"Ehh I guess," the older alchemist grumbled again.

"By the way Al," Leone said leaning in to the younger alchemist. "Did you and Tatsumi really yell 'Bring it on' while undressing?" Both boys blushed at Leone's question.

"Both of you were average today," Akame said while staring at a giant tuna head she held with her hands.

 _At least your evaluation was sort of kind towards us,_ Tatsumi thought. _Though I know I can do better for her._

"Now then," Najenda said, setting down her chopsticks. "Leone. Tell me about the request you received a couple of days ago."

"Our two main targets are Ogre of the Capital Guards, and an oil merchant named Gamal," Leone answered. "The client had informed me that Orge has been accepting bribes from Gamal. Every time Gamal commits a crime, Ogre will frame someone else to take the fall. The client's fiancé was one of those who was framed and executed as a result. He overheard the two discussing this in his prison cell, and wrote her a letter before his execution to inform her." The blonde assassin pulled out a giant bag of gold coins and tossed it on the table. "This is what was paid."

"She must have had to work hard to save up that sum of money," Al said.

"I could smell that the woman had some sexually transmitted disease. So she must have been selling her body just to earn that much," Leone continued, her tone of voice slightly darker. The faces of the three males in the room widened at Leone's words.

"No way," Al muttered quietly.

"Were you able to confirm the woman's story?" Najenda asked, sticking a cigarette in her mouth.

"I did," Leone answered. "Those bastards are sure as hell guilty. I spied on them briefly from the attic at the merchant's shop."

Najenda took the cigarette out of her mouth and exhaled a stream of smoke. "Very well. Night Raid will accept this woman's request. We will be sure to deliver divine punishment upon these evildoers and send them straight to hell."

"Killing Gamal will not be a problem. But Ogre is a different story," Leone spoke up.

"Oh dear," Edward said. "This Ogre guy isn't super strong is he?"

"Correct," answered the blonde assassin. "He's well known as 'Ogre the Demon' because his skill with the sword makes him an object of terror to the criminals of the Capital. He spends most of his time on patrol with his subordinates. But other than that, he resides at the garrison's headquarters. Gamal usually visits him in his chambers to give him the bribes. On his days off, he leaves headquarters and spends most of the time drinking on the main street close to the palace."

"So the best time to strike him would be on his days off," Ed followed up. "If he's also been drinking heavily, then his senses ought to be thrown off if someone were to challenge him to a fight."

"Ah! Thinking ahead are we Edward? It won't be as easy as you describe it," the white-haired assassin said. "The security around the palace is heavy, and since Akame is on the Capital's most wanted list, this will be a more dangerous mission since she is involved."

"I suggest we wait for the rest of the group to come back," Akame said.

"Well they haven't finished their mission, so we don't know when they will come back," Tatsumi followed up.

"That's true," Akame replied.

"I'd say we skip the wait," exclaimed Ed, looking at Al and Tatsumi. "We can take care of it ourselves. Right guys?"

"I don't see why not," Tatsumi answered. "I'm with you all the way Ed!"

"Oh…" Najenda grinned with amusement. "Are you saying you three can take on Ogre without the rest of us?"

"You know you are taking a big risk on your lives with this plan," Leone followed up.

"Leone is right," Akame said next. "Even with your combined strength and skills, there is a chance you may not succeed."

Al had been quiet for most of the briefing, but decided to take a stand and speak up. "I don't know if you noticed, but while we have been talking, there's a possibility another innocent person is being framed from a crime they didn't commit by these monsters. We can handle this Ogre monster! No one should have to suffer in anger and grief because someone they love was taken away from them!"

Akame looked on in silence when Al spoke. Najenda was the first to speak up and respond to the younger alchemist. "I understand Alphonse. I can appreciate the decision of you men. Go and kill that demon!"

"Wise words Al," Leone exclaimed slapping Al's back. "Nice to see you becoming independent."

"Leone, Akame, I am leaving the oil merchant up to you," Najenda ordered.

"Roger boss," the blonde assassin said.

"Well Akame. Do you think we have what it takes?" Ed asked the red-eyed assassin with a grin.

"Let me see. You and Alphonse have only been on one mission with us, and Tatsumi has not been assigned to any," Akame answered. "Perhaps you three are acting overconfident because of your willingness to accept this mission without understanding the consequences if you fail. There's a chance you are all going to die."

Ed was taken aback by Akame's words "What? Al and I have had our share of fighting mercenaries, homunculi, and a crazy woman bent on taking over my country. How can you say that?" The older alchemist received no response from Akame. She walked out of the kitchen without looking back. _So you want to give us the silent treatment? Very well. Al, Tatsumi, and I can prove we can carry out a mission on our own!_

* * *

 _The next afternoon at sunset, center of the Capital_

Leone and the three boys casually walked through the streets of the Capital towards the center of the city. Once they reached a wide street, Leone knew she had to split from there. "Here we are. If you go straight ahead up here, you'll be lead to the main street."

"Thanks for the directions Leone," Ed said, looking towards Al and Tatsumi. "No turning back now you two."

"Yep," Tatsumi uttered.

"Before you three go," Leone spoke up. "There's something I'd like to tell you about Akame." Her words caught the attention of the three boys.

 _We're about to leave for a mission, so what could Leone have to tell us about Akame?_ Tatsumi thought.

"As a child, Akame and her younger sister were sold to the Empire by their parents. Here, it is common for poor parents to do such a thing," the blonde assassin explained. "To get back on track, she and another girl in the same situation entered assassination training together. It was there she learned how to kill people. She managed to survive during her time there despite the hell she faced, and worked for the Empire as one of their most feared assassins. Overtime, she slowly saw just how corrupt the Empire was to the core. The boss, whom Akame was ordered to target, persuaded her to defect from the Empire and join the Revolutionary Army. By then, most of the people Akame had worked with as comrades and trained together with were dead."

"That is… I mean…" Ed stuttered, shaken by Leone words. "I never realized Akame had it that tough." He paused, remembering part of what she had told him earlier. "Wait you never mentioned what became of her sister."

"Akame's sister is still allied with the Empire," Leone answered.

"But why?" Al followed up.

"You may have to ask Akame, but I doubt she will give you an answer to that question," she said towards Al. "Well I better be off, and you three should too."

"Roger that," Tatsumi said waving. "We better get a move on if we're gonna succeed with our plan." Both brothers nodded at the brown-haired boy and sprinted down the road.

 _Akame has a sister? Perhaps she and I are alike in more ways than one,_ Ed thought. _Maybe she may not show it, but she probably cares about her a lot like I care for Al._

* * *

 _Several miles away from the center of the Capital_

"Heh heh," chuckled Gamal as he walked down an outside patio of a brothel. "I sure needed a break to use the toilet. I wonder if I will have to go again soon."

"Perhaps I can help," growled a woman's voice from behind the bald man. Without being given a chance to turn around, two arms became wrapped around his neck, holding him hostage. Gamal squirmed, trying to escape. But his strength was no match against his mysterious opponent. "Hope you like the taste of death." The last thing Gamal saw was a red-eyed woman with black hair rushing at him driving her sword into his chest. Leone released his corpse from her stranglehold, dropping him to the floor. "You should be lucky to have been killed by two gorgeous babes! Now then, I wonder how the boys are doing." Akame stared silently at Leone when she mentioned the Elric Brothers and Tatsumi.

 _Capital's main street_

"Sake is so good after a nice interrogation," a slightly drunk armored man with a scar on his left eye proclaimed, walking down the street.

"Master Ogre," someone called out from the crowd of people. "We just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done and say thank you for the other day."

"Anytime gentlemen," waved Ogre. "Come visit anytime if you are in need of assistance." Orge continued his walked, mischievously grinning. _In this city, I am king! I hold authority above all! I can do what I want, when I want, and as much as I want!_

"Pardon me Master Orge," a voice called out from behind the man. Ogre turned around to see a hooded brown-haired boy in front of him. "I have something important I wish to speak with you about."

"Eh? Well then spill it! I don't have all day," Ogre responded with annoyance.

"Actually. I feel like discussing this important matter in a crowded public place like this won't do," said Tatsumi.

 _Three minutes later_

"Okay kid. Is this alleyway sufficient enough for you?" Orge asked Tatsumi in a secluded alleyway a couple of blocks from the main street. The older man stared at the boy waiting for a response. _I don't sense this kid to be dangerous, so maybe I shouldn't be worried at all._

 _Sayo, Ieyasu, please lend me your strength,_ Tatsumi thought before quickly dropping down on his knees and bowing. "Oh please Mr. Ogre sir! Let me join the Capital Garrison! I am in need of the money to get back to my home country!"

"Ah damn. Another one of these beggars," Ogre said scratching the back of his head. "Apply through the normal process like everyone else you idiot!"

"You mean like… now," shouted Tatsumi. Confused at the brown-haired boy's change of tone in voice, Ogre did not sense the presence of Ed as he leaped from a rooftop, with his automail right arm transmuted into a blade, and slashed downward across the older man's back.

"Who the hell was that?" Orge exclaimed as blood spewed from his back. He was too distracted from Ed's surprise attack to respond to Tatsumi, who had quickly drawn his sword and dashed towards him, and slashed across his chest, spilling more of his blood. _This kid planned this whole thing?_ Orge fell forward, groaning in pain from his wounds. "I am Ogre the Demon," he proclaimed, reaching for his sword. "I will not be killed by the likes of two snot nosed little shits-" Ogre's hand was suddenly struck by a dagger thrown from above him. _A third one?_

Al was the next to jump down from the roof, revealing that he had been the one to strike Ogre's hand. He then clasped his hands together and placed them on the ground, transmuting a machete, and proceeded to slice off both of Ogre's arms in one swing. "Tatsumi. Deliver the final blow," Al shouted.

"Right," Tatsumi quickly returned his sword to his sheath. _I only have one chance to make this work._ The brown-haired boy drew a transmutation circle into the ground and placed his hands on it. The circle glowed a bright blue, with a giant spike shooting diagonally from the ground piercing through Ogre's chest. Tatsumi breathed a heavy sigh. "I did it. No… We did it."

"Uh… Nice work there," Ed said to Tatsumi. He had been stunned at Tatsumi's successful use of alchemy in battle despite the mishaps from training earlier in the day.

"Come on. Let's get out of here before someone catches us," Al called out, running down the alley. Ed and Tatsumi wasted no more time and sprinted to catch up with Al.

* * *

 _Later that night, Night Raid's base_

"Great job you three. You successfully eliminated the target," Najenda said sitting down at her throne with the rest of Night Raid gathered.

"Thank you very much boss," Al replied bowing.

"I was pretty shocked to hear about Tatsumi's use of alchemy to kill Ogre," the white-haired assassin followed up.

"We had carefully planned out on how we were going to defeat Ogre, but the alchemy bit was a last minute thing thought out by me alone," Tatsumi explained. "I hope you two aren't mad.

"No we aren't," said Ed with amusement. "In fact it feels nice to have another alchemist among us now." The older alchemist turned to Akame who stood nearby. "What did you think Akame? We did our first successful assignment without your help and reported back. As a bonus, we didn't get injured once!" Akame rushed up to Edward and pulled off his shirt. "What the hell Akame?" In an instant, the red-eyed assassin had also moved quickly to pull off Al and Tatsumi's shirts.

"Hey now! Don't leave me out of the fun," Leone exclaimed with excitement.

"Help me take off all their clothes," Akame ordered.

"I'm joining in too," Najenda said.

Within seconds, the Elric Brothers and Tatsumi had been stripped down to their underwear. All three men cried out in embarrassment, covering their private regions, chests, and then each other, all while Akame carefully examined them. "Thank goodness," Akame said, blushing at the boys, though her sights were mainly set on Ed. "I have seen friends of mine die from their wounds because wanted to be tough and not report it. But you are all undamaged, especially you Edward."

"Wait. Why me specifically?" Ed asked with surprise.

"You mentioned having fought strong enemies before, but please don't try to be overconfident in your strength," Akame answered. "That's mainly why I felt uncomfortable with you taking on this kill quest. Those friends of mine I mentioned who died suffered from that same mentality of thinking they could handle a tough opponent alone."

"Ah man you're right! I should have understood you better back then. You were concerned for our safety," the older alchemist said.

"She definitely was Edward. Without you, Al, and Tatsumi, Akame would have been alone," Leone spoke up.

"Those times you spent together in the kitchen, you had also learned to communicate better with your comrades," Najenda followed. "Each of you learned how to kill a difficult opponent because of your collective effort to devise a plan which would work best for everyone. Did you notice everything you have done previously was beneficial?"

"Now that you mention it… of course," Tatsumi exclaimed.

"I also wanted to say sorry too Akame," Ed said.

"Same for us," Al and Tatsumi shouted in unison, and bowed.

"It's all right," Akame said. "From here on out, just promise you will come back alive." The red-eyed assassin extended her hand to Edward, with the alchemist extending his in return to shake. Akame blushed again, as did Edward.

 _There she goes again blushing,_ thought Ed. _Could she? No. We still barely know each other._ Ed gulped and shook his head. "Y-you got it! I promise!"

Leone snickered at Ed's response. "So what kind of promises will you make with just being in your underwear?"

"Now that you mention it," grumbled Ed. **"Give me back my clothes!"**

 **"And ours too,"** Al and Tatsumi shouted together.


	10. Chapter 10: Kill Your Burden

_Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revolutionary Assassins_

Chapter 10: Kill Your Burden

 **Disclaimer:** _ **Fullmetal Alchemist**_ **is owned by Hiromu Arakawa, and** _ **Akame ga Kill**_ **is owned by Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro.**

 **The Story So Far: Edward and Alphonse have made themselves comfortable with being part of the assassin group Night Raid. Alphonse in particular had struggled at the beginning to adjust to his new lifestyle, but quickly grew into it following his first mission. Things had also gotten off to a rocky start between the Elric Brothers and the other newest member, a young country boy named Tatsumi, who held a grudge towards Al for not recusing his friends who had been tortured to death by an aristocratic family Night Raid had targeted. Only after Mine forced them to put away their grudges did the two boys began to get along. Now with the three men having successfully completed their first solo killing mission, Edward, Alphonse, and Tatsumi look ahead to continue fighting for justice, and seeing it brought back to the Empire.**

* * *

Two days have passed since the Elric Brothers and Tatsumi carried out their quest to kill the leader of the Capital Garrison, Ogre. Tatsumi wanted to use his time off to take the opportunity on continuing to learn alchemy from the Elric Brothers. He was pushed by the brothers to insure his skills did not stagnate. Of course, the men had to balance out training and their work with Night Raid. They would be in for an unsettling reminder on who they were going to work with.

"Are you kidding me?" Tatsumi shouted when heard Najenda's order. "We had completely forgotten we were supposed to train with Mine that one time!"

"The only advice I can give you is to do your best with her boys," Najenda said. "Take care now." The white-haired assassin waved as she went back inside the base.

"After nearly killing us, the thought about what we will do with her makes my spine shiver," Ed responded.

"I'm worried that if we mess up something she orders us to do, she'll take that gun of hers and start randomly shooting us," Tatsumi imagined.

"Or how about her constant nagging?"

"Exactly!"

"Guys. I'm really beginning to get tired of you constantly talking about Mine behind her back like that," Al spoke up. "Maybe things will be different."

"I wish," Tatsumi moaned.

"Hey you three! Time to head out," Mine called out from the doorway.

"* **sigh*** Well. Let's see if you're right Al," Tatsumi said. "Though I don't expect her attitude to change much."

* * *

 _An hour and a half later, the Capital_

"I know it's been two days since we've been here," Ed said to the group, glancing at his surroundings. "But looking around more carefully, everyone here looks down in the dumps. Don't you think so Mine?"

"What did you expect? These people have lived their lives under constant fear and terror. Plus the economy sucks," the pink-haired assassin explained.

"Mine. Is it okay for us to walk around in broad daylight like this?" Tatsumi asked.

"Huh, well… See for yourself," Mine answered, pointing at several wanted posters on a wall.

"Oh yeah. I've seen those posters of Akame, Najenda, Bulat, and Sheele before," Al said. "So we should be good since you're not on here."

"Bro? Where is he? I don't see him on here," Tatsumi said staring at the posters.

"He's that one," Al told him and pointed at the center poster.

"You're kidding me!? How is that possible!?" Tatsumi blurted out. He was unable to get the sight of Bulat's old hairstyle and new one out of his mind now.

"Pipe down you idiot! We're supposed to be undercover," Mine angrily said stomping up to him.

"Gah. Sorry about that!" Tatsumi apologized and leaned backwards as the pink-haired girl got close to his face.

"He changed his image after joining us. Now let's go. We have a mission to inspect the city!" Mine's attitude changed in the blink of an eye from serious to joyful.

"Oh. Sure thing," Tatsumi responded and raised his fist, unsure of what she meant by inspection. "I'm ready to take on the impossible that lies ahead for us!"

What was expected to be a mission for the three boys turned out to be hours of strolling through the Capital. First the four Night Raid members stopped for lunch at a diner, followed by a visit to a lingerie shop at Mine's request, which made the boys rather nervous to be at, and then a visit to a dress shop where the pink haired girl bought numerous dresses for herself that the boys lost count. After several more visits to other shops around the Capital, the boys were exhausted once they stopped at a café for tea.

"We sure did buy a lot of stuff today," Mine said.

" **You** bought a lot of stuff," Ed groaned correcting the pink haired girl. "All we did was carry your luggage around. And you bought so much that Al and I had to transmute a wagon just to free our hands!"

"All the more reason to make my shopping spree much bigger. Anyhow, we are finished with today's mission."

"You call going out to buy luxuries a mission?" Tatsumi exclaimed with an extremely irked tone.

"Oh get over it," Mine said as she smacked Tatsumi upside his head. Her smack was hard enough to knock him out of his chair. "Have you forgotten I'm above you? Good servants don't question their masters." She proceeded to stomp on the brown haired boy. "You should be grateful that I deemed you worthy to carry my bags! Same goes for you Elric Brothers!"

"Yes ma'am," Ed and Al answered together. Both were stiff as they feared Mine would do the same thing to them.

"Well you're not going to be our boss forever you know," Tatsumi intruded, quickly rising back onto his feet. "How exactly does this count as training?"

"What? Do you think you can just waltz in here and be on my level? Tatsumi, you do seem confident in your skills as a swordsman. Elric Brothers, I still don't know much about your alchemy, though I guess you are masters at it. But none of you have seen the combat I have been through."

Tatsumi, Ed, and Al looked on as Mine spoke, and the brown haired boy began to regret much of what he said earlier. He looked down and clenched his fist. "I get it. Ed, Al and I. We're new, so there are things about this job that we don't get yet. But I will still keep on fighting for Sayo and Ieyasu."

Mine stared at Tatsumi. She then sighed and turned around. "Akame and Bulat have high hopes for you three, but I have my doubts."

Al glanced over to see a crowd gathering at a nearby plaza. "Mine. What's that about?"

"It's an execution," the pink haired assassin answered. "They're pretty common here." The Night Raid members decided to join the crowd and witness what was occurring. The Elric Brothers and Tatsumi had their expressions widen in horror once they were close enough to see what was happening. Several people were chained onto crosses as giant metal nails and wooden arrows were impaled across their bodies.

"How could somebody order something like this to happen?" Al stuttered in shock.

"It's the prime minister who supports this kind of cruelty," Mine explained. "It was he who put the child emperor on the throne so he could be in control. As for me, I'll never end up like this. I am going to survive this hell no matter what happens."

 _I knew from the start there were a lot of things wrong with this country,_ Ed thought looking towards the palace. _Just how sick and twisted is this prime minister?_ A chill rushed down the older alchemist's spine.

Al glanced over at his Ed, noticing he looked a bit pale. "You feeling okay brother?"

"I'm fine. Let's go. I can't look at this for another minute." Ed quickly walked away. _It's not just the execution that made me shiver, but it felt like someone from within the palace was crying out for help._

The gang of four left the scene without saying another word. As they approached the gates of the Capital to exit the city, Al glanced over at a storefront sign. "Hey Mine. Can we stop here?"

"What exactly do you even need?"

"Well I noticed this store sells tools, and I need the proper ones to maintain brother's arm," Al explained.

The pink haired assassin sighed. "Fine. Make it quick."

Both brothers entered the store, noticing that no one was there to greet them. "Strange. You'd think someone would be manning the front counter," Ed said. "Hello. New customers here!"

"Just a minute." The Elric Brothers jumped at the sound of the voice. They did not know why, but the tone of it felt very familiar to someone close from home. To their surprise, the voice belonged to a young woman whose blonde hair and blue eyes whose appearance froze them emotionally and physically. "Hello. What can I help you with?"

Ed stuttered as he tried to speak to the woman. "Winry? What are you doing here?"

"W-Winry? You must be mistaking me for someone else sir," the woman nervously responded.

""Sorry you're right. You just remind of an old friend," stuttered Ed. "You see what I mean is-"

"Let me handle this brother," Al said interrupting. "Please excuse my brother. He has a lot on mind. Anyways, I am in need of these supplies."

As the older brother looked on at Al talking to the eerily familiar blonde woman, he drowned out the words exchanged between the two. _Why is there a girl who looks like Winry here? Are there also people in this world who resemble familiar faces back home? Not like I'll ever find the answers to all these questions I'm asking myself._

"Is it true sir?" The Winry-like girl suddenly exclaimed as she closed in on Ed, shaking the older alchemist out of his inner thoughts.

"Eh, what's that?"

"Your arm! Is your brother right about your arm being manmade?" Ed noticed she was becoming more excited as he was pressed into showing his automail.

"Definitely," the older alchemist answered, rolling up his sleeve.

"Wow! The person who made this must have had very good craftsmanship in building this," the blonde woman exclaimed with glee. "From the way it feels, this metal is probably harder than a regular sword."

 _Yep. She kind of has Winry's personality too,_ Ed thought.

After another minute of admiring Ed's automail arm, the blonde woman helped Al with the remainder of finding the materials he needed to maintain his brother's arm. After bidding each other farewell, Ed stopped short of exiting the shop. "Miss. Let me ask you something. Have you ever seen people who look like my brother and I before?"

"Hmm. Nope, can't say I have," the woman replied.

"Well, thanks for everything again. Miss… uh…"

"Call me Sarah. I hope to see you and your brother again."

Ed nodded and proceeded to turn around, exiting the store with only a wave. _Sarah. If I remember right, Winry's mother also had that name._

* * *

 _Later that evening_

The Elric Brothers, Tatsumi, and Mine sat high up in a tree overlooking an enormous mansion half a mile away. Najenda had earlier given Night Raid a new assassination target. Ed and Al looked on waiting for his arrival.

"Let me see. Our next guy we need to kill is a relative of the Prime Minister. Apparently he abducts girls from the city and beats them to death. His bodyguards are also complicit in his crimes," Ed stated. "Is that right Mine?"

"Yep," the pink haired girl answered, checking her Teigu. "His name is Iwokara. Based on my observation, I can't hit him from this distance. I'll have to wait until he comes out."

"Twelve o'clock! Target sited," Al warned.

Mine set up in a comfortable position to aim Pumpkin at her intended target. Tatsumi stared at her as she stared down the length of her rifle. _Wow. Her concentration is so awesome that I can feel her willpower from here,_ the brown haired boy thought. He glanced back at the target again with his small telescope. Tatsumi's eyes widened when he noticed a group of women walking alongside Iwokara on both sides of him. "Wait Mine, don't fire! You're gonna hit those women!"

"So what?"

"What do you mean? You can't snipe him from here," Tatsumi exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter."

"So you're okay with killing innocent people-" Mine fired her weapon before Tatsumi could continue his question. The beam from pumpkin traveled directly through Iwokara's head, resulting in him falling backwards. All three boys gawked in shock at Mine's shot.

"Just a head's up, I'm a genius sniper," gloated Mine.

"Well then," Ed exclaimed. "Looks like we underestimated her."

* * *

 _Several minutes later_

Iwokara's bodyguards sprang into action upon receiving word their master had been assassinated. "Hunt down the bastards who committed this crime," one bodyguard ordered. "If we let them escape, it will be the Prime Minister who kills us!" They screeched to a halt when they confronted the rest of Night Raid, who had been waiting for them.

"Well, well," Leone said. She cracked her knuckles as she gave a deadly grin. "Glad you could make it! Let's get wild!"

Elsewhere in the forest, the Elric Brothers, Tatsumi, and Mine, were walking across thick tree roots. All four had been instructed to meet at a certain rendezvous point once the task they were given had been complete. "Geez. Navigating this forest is a pain," Mine complained.

"I just hope we haven't been followed," Tatsumi said.

"Those guards back there were trained at the top martial arts school in the whole empire. Taking them down won't be a piece of cake," the pink haired assassin explained. "If you're related by blood to the Prime Minister, the grade of your guards goes up. Getting away by using his relative's name for cover is what I greatly despise about him."

 _Sounds like Mine must be hiding something that happened to her,_ Ed thought.

"Very well. I'll tell you about my past," said Mine.

Ed jumped. _Did she just read my mind?_

"I was born and raised on the western border of the empire, and half my blood is foreign. Everyone ridiculed me for that reason, and I was never accepted. My childhood was hell as a result," Mine revealed. "But you know, the Revolutionary Army formed an alliance with the people of the west. If we made a new country, diplomatic relations would grow, people of different races could coexist, and discrimination can be wiped away so that kids like me won't have to suffer. I never want to see that happen again."

"Mine," Ed softly said. _If I had known about that earlier, then perhaps I wouldn't have been so quick to judge her._

"And once the revolution's over, I'll probably receive a load of money and live like a celebrity, retiring in luxury," Mine gloated as her tone and personality sudden shifted, howling with glee.

 _Looks like I spoke too soon,_ Ed grumbled in his thoughts. Tatsumi and Al also became slightly annoyed at the shift in Mine's personality.

Back at the fight, Leone swung her left fist at the final bodyguard, killing him instantly and sending his body flying. "Ah," Leone sighed with relief. "I feel relieved!"

"They sure did put up a fight," Sheele said.

Akame on the other hand was still engaged in battle mode. As she glanced over at the pile of dead bodies, she had noticed something was off with the body count. "Strange. There should have been five bodyguards."

"Dang it. I didn't get to kill anyone tonight," Lubbock moaned.

"Guess that means you lose half your earnings," Leone said with a snicker.

"Gahh! Say that again," the green haired assassin exclaimed.

A breeze suddenly flowed through the forest. The red-eyed assassin looked up at the sky through a clearing in the trees. "Edward," whispered Akame. "Please be all right."

Over in another part of the forest, the brothers, Tatsumi, and Mine, continued to navigate the forest. Al looked ahead and spotted a giant tree with pink blossoms sprouting from its branches. "Hey look! It's the rendezvous point. We completed our mission!"

"Don't get too ahead of yourself. You still have to write your report," Mine replied with a smile.

"Oh right," the younger alchemist chuckled. Al's senses suddenly kicked in when he noticed a man jump out from the forest and prepared to swing his fist at the pink-haired assassin. "Mine get down!" Mine was pushed down by Al, taking the punch Mine would have gotten, with its force sending him flying fifteen meters.

"Alphonse," Ed screamed. No response came from his younger brother, as he appeared to have been knocked unconscious. Ed turned towards the perpetrator, a tall blonde man with a ponytail. The older brother realized he must have been a bodyguard from the mansion.

"My assistant instructor for the past ten years sure was strong," the man said to himself. "Looks like from the force of that punch, my skills have waned."

"That was my brother you hurt," the older alchemist yelled, transmuting his automail arm into a blade. Ed lunged his arm at the bodyguard, though his enemy dodged each attack with lightning speed. _Geez. Mine wasn't kidding when she said these guards are professionally trained,_ Ed thought. Clasping his hands, Ed uplifted a section of the ground behind the bodyguard in hopes of throwing his opponent off balance. This trick backfired when the bodyguard smirked, dashing forward to seize the opportunity to attack Ed.

"Getting full of yourself? Time to take you down a peg," Mine exclaimed, aiming Pumpkin at the bodyguard. The assassin pulled the trigger, firing repeatedly. Not going to be fooled, the bodyguard dodged her attacks. "Damn it."

"Enough playing around," quipped the bodyguard, swinging around Ed until he was face to face with Mine. "I'll be personally delivering you four to the Prime Minister." Off in the distance, Al slowly rose to his feet, transmuting a dagger. In the blink of an eye, the younger alchemist dashed towards the bodyguard, joined by Tatsumi as he wielded his sword. The bodyguard turned his head and blocked both boys with his arms.

"Al! Drop your weapon," Tatsumi order.

Not questioning his motive, Al dropped his dagger just as Tatsumi dropped his sword. The brown haired boy ducked and grabbed the bodyguard by the waist from the front. Al got the hint at what Tatsumi was planning, so he swung around to duck and grab the bodyguard from the back.

"These brats," muttered the bodyguard.

"Mine! Now is your chance to shoot," Tatsumi shouted.

"Tatsumi. Al," Mine said as her eyes watered. "To think you both would give your lives for me."

"We're not sacrificing ourselves you idiot," Tatsumi shouted annoyingly. "You're a genius sniper right? I trust you."

"Tatsumi. Alphonse. Don't be stupid," Ed shouted.

"Just trust us brother," Al answered.

Hesitant at first, Mine then smirked as she aimed Pumpkin at the three males. "Since you both seem confident about your plan, I won't doubt you!"

"Hold on! You're being serious?" The bodyguard panicked at Mine's words as he glanced back at her. Without wasting another minute, Mine fired Pumpkin directly into the center of the older man's body, creating a gapping hole and coughing up blood. "Night Raid. I am a relative of the Prime Minister. You will pay!" The man fell on his knees and then on the left side of his corpse.

"Thank goodness," Ed said with relief.

"You two sure had a lot of courage for that risky plan of yours," Mine stated. "I can't help but be impressed by-" Al flicked his finger at Mine's head.

"I may have trusted you Mine, but I actually ducked at the last minute," Al explained. "And because of that, **you burned off part of my ponytail when it whipped up!"**

 **"Grr, what the hell is your deal Al? It's just hair,"** Mine shouted.

 **"I've been growing it for two years to make it look like brother's!"**

 **"Just grow it again! No need to whine about it!"**

Ed and Tatsumi chuckled as the two continued to argue. "I guess all of us are even with her now," Tatsumi said.

"This sure is a lively scene," Leone said walking up beside the boys with Akame following. "Looks like everything would have turned out okay even if we didn't run here."

Akame glanced over at Ed, noticing he looked uninjured. _I'm glad you're okay Edward,_ she thought, unknowingly blushing.

* * *

 _Streets of the Capital_

"We must continue the hunt for Captain Ogre's killer," an Imperial Guard shouted as another followed closely behind him.

"Yes sir!"

In a nearby alley, a tall blonde man with spiked hair and a gemstone on his head overhead the voices of the guards. He then glanced over at a wanted poster of Akame, wickedly smiling at the site of it. "She is just like me. A Teigu user and an assassin. How delightful. I want to go all out right now."

The guards overheard the man's voice, drawing their swords when they entered the alley. "Hey, you over there," one guard shouted.

"You look suspicious! Don't move!"

The mysterious man glanced at the guards. In the span of less than a second, both guards' heads flew off their bodies. "It seems like the Capital is my kind of place. I'll kill and kill and won't stop!"

* * *

 **A/N: That's the end of Chapter 10. I apologize for the long delay again. As college progresses, I am getting busier with classes. Plus I found a job. I hope you understand. Thanks.**


	11. Kill the Night Butcher (Part 1)

_Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revolutionary Assassins_

Chapter 11: Kill the Night Butcher (Part 1)

 **Disclaimer:** _ **Fullmetal Alchemist**_ **is owned by Hiromu Arakawa, and** _ **Akame ga Kill**_ **is owned by Takahiro and Tetsuya Tashiro.**

 **A/N: Hello again. I know it has been months since publishing the last chapter of this story. But a lot of things happened during that time. Jobs and graduation from college were the big ones, including finding my own place to live. So yeah, life came at me pretty fast. I cannot offer any other excuses other than what I have just stated. I have also read reviews during this time regarding how the fates of certain characters would be handled. I heard you, and I will oblige to keep your advice in mind for future chapters. Thank you for your understanding.**

* * *

"Yo Alphonse," Ed exclaimed as he knocked on the door to his younger brother's room. "Don't be oversleeping. You know we could be given a new mission at any minute." It was around ten in the morning, and Al had not exited his room since last night's mission. _He can't be that depressed for what Mine did to his hair,_ the older alchemist thought. Ed knocked again even harder. "Alphonse! Perhaps Mine has a point, and that you should get to what happened to your-"

"You were saying brother?" The door opened immediately with Al stepping out. Ed was stunned by his younger brother's new shorter hair. Ed had not seen Al with short hair since the day they attempted to bring their mother back.

"-Hair?"

"Oh this? I guess it was time to give myself a clean slate," Al explained. "I had been trying to be like you for these last two years you were gone and less like me as if to fill some void."

Ed rustled his younger brother on the head, giving off a smile. "I appreciate all you have tried to do for me. You don't need to worry about intimidating me to try to make everyone happy. You have always been Alphonse Elric." The Elric Brothers then shared a quick laugh together.

"Edward. Alphonse," Akame said. "Meet us down in the hall."

"Well. Guess it's time for another mission," Ed stated. "Feeling up for it Alphonse?"

"Yeah."

* * *

 _Five minutes later_

"Our next target is the rumored serial killer stalking the streets of the Capital," Najenda explained. "He appears late in the dark of night and severs the heads of whomever crosses him. The number of people who have fallen prey to him is unknown."

"At least three of them were members of the Imperial Guard, right? He must be really strong," Al asked.

"Based on what you just said, this has to be the work of Barry the Executioner," Lubbock followed up. The Elric Brothers stiffened at the name of their target and looked at each other.

The white-haired assassin pulled her cigarette from her mouth to blow a cloud of smoke. "Is something wrong Elric Brothers?"

"Not really," answered Ed. "It's just… That name."

"It reminds us of someone we crossed paths with back in our world," Al followed up.

"As much as I would like to hear about this person you knew, I'm afraid we are short on time for old stories," Najenda said.

"Right, right," Ed said. "Anyways, can you brief us about this Barry the Executioner?"

"Please brief me too," Sheele spoke. "I don't think I'm familiar with him either."

"I think you've just forgotten, Sheele," Mine said with a sweat drop rolling down her face. "As for our target. Barry the Executioner as his name suggests, once worked at the most notorious prison in the Empire. Because of orders from the Prime Minister, Barry had executed many people every day. Even those who pleaded on their knees for their lives were shown not one ounce of mercy. Over time, this job of his soon became a nasty habit."

"And eventually the guy lost his marbles and became a serial killer," Tatsumi assumed.

"Exactly," Mine said.

"He disappeared before a special force could detain him for his actions. Shocking that he would end up in the Capital," Bulat said.

"Well let's cut the chit chat and beat this guy's ass," the brown-haired assassin exclaimed.

"Not so fast Tatsumi," the muscular assassin intruded with a sly smile.

"Bro?" Bulat place his hand on Tatsumi's right shoulder.

"Before Barry fled, he stole the prison warden's Teigu. If you were to run into him without a partner, especially without a Teigu of your own, you'd be in trouble," Bulat said, caressing Tatsumi's chin while blushing.

 _I think that is the least of my worries at the moment,_ Tatsumi thought as he cringed. He was not alone in what he was thinking, as Ed stared unnerved at the two while placing his hand in front of Al's eyes.

Once the meeting had ended, both brothers went outside to the courtyard and sat with their backs leaning on the wall. "Are we sure our target's name is what I think it is?" Al asked.

"Seems like it," Ed muttered. "Geez, what is with this world? First we met a girl who looks like Winry and shares her mom's name, and now we have to fight a guy who reminds us of someone who once tried to kill us."

"Barry the Chopper," Al followed. Just saying the last part of his name sent a shiver down the Elric Brothers spines, with the terrible memories they each experienced with the man. "Maybe the name is a coincidence. I mean, we don't know if he physically resembles the Barry from our world."

"Still, I am not looking forward to this," the older brother followed up.

"Looking forward to what?" The brothers looked up to see Akame standing directly in front of them.

"Gah!" Both brothers jumped with shock when they realized how close Akame was leaning in. Ed exclaimed, "How long were you listening?"

"A little bit," the red-eyed assassin bluntly answered.

"So you heard what we said?"

Akame nodded. "This Barry the Chopper. Was that the person you tried to mention back in the hall?"

"Well yeah, but it's nothing really," Ed fibbed with an uneasy laugh.

"You're lying aren't you?"

 _Crap. She saw through me,_ thought Ed as he stared at Akame's deadpan face. "To tell the truth, hearing that name brings back a part of the past we both want to forget. Barry the Chopper was a psychopath who abducted and murdered young women for sheer enjoyment. Our friend Winry almost became one of his victims, including myself when I rescued her."

"Don't forget that I also fought him too when he became a soul trapped inside a suit of armor to guard the Fifth Laboratory," Al said. "Though Scar was the one who killed him soon after." The younger brother's voice gave off a bit of uneasiness, having chosen to ignore an important part of the battle between Barry and him. Even to this day he had not told anyone else about that certain moment.

"Alphonse. I can sense you are leaving something important out of your story," Akame said.

Al stared at his brother and Akame. For the longest time, he had been hesitant to tell Ed about what Barry had said to make him feel like he was not human. "Brother. There is something I have been hiding from you," the younger brother spoke up.

Ed focused his attention on Al. "Yeah?"

"That night. When I fought Barry the Chopper at the Fifth Laboratory, he… He tried to manipulate me!"

The older brother's eyes widened at Al's words. "Alphonse. What do you mean by that?"

"Remember how we had that argument on the hospital roof when I thought my memories and soul were fake? Barry toyed with me into thinking I was your artificial creation."

There was a long pause between the brothers. Ed was unsure of how to react to this confession. All of a sudden he gave a small smile, feeling a larger sense of vindication from how his younger brother felt at the time, now knowing for sure he did not have to feel the burden of what had happened to his body. "Thanks Al. I feel much better knowing all of what you told me."

"Well now that you two have finished, let's move out," Akame said.

* * *

 _Nighttime, The Capital_

The streets lay barren as lighting from the gas lamps kept them glowing underneath the darken sky. The only ones to walk them were Akame, followed by the Elric brothers and Tatsumi. "We are close to our search area," the red-eyed assassin uttered.

"Barry sure seems to have scared people into staying indoors huh?" Tatsumi questioned. I'm sure we can take out this-" The brown haired boy was cut off as Akame grabbed him, covering his mouth, and the quartet retreated into a nearby dark alley. Each of them looked on as a group of soldiers rushed by them.

"We're not the only ones out tonight. Even the Capital's guards are roaming the streets. We must take extra precaution," Akame articulated. She took her left hand off Tatsumi's mouth, allowing him to catch his breath after having been dragged without warning.

"Akame. I need to ask you something," Ed said as they walked out of the alley.

"No worries. I brought enough snacks," answered Akame as she pulled out a bag of food.

"I was not going to ask you that. Do you think our training has paid off enough to face off against this lunatic?"

"This is a question I am afraid I cannot provide an answer to," the red-eyed assassin explained. "It would be in the battle where your results will show."

Far off in the distance, a tall blonde man in a white trench coat with a sadistic grin stood on a clock tower, observing the quartet with a strange device on his head that allowed him to zoom in on his target. "Looks like I not the only serial killer in town tonight. The city sure is a dangerous place," the man muttered to himself. "Now then, whom shall I play with first?" The man redirected his sights on Bulat and Leone who were in one part of the city, followed by Mine and Sheele in another part. "I made my choice," the man quipped as he redirected his sights on Alphonse. "He the tastiest of them all."

The quartet of assassins decided to pass the time by consuming the snacks Akame had brought with her. "Is Barry even going to show up tonight?" Al asked as he chewed his bread.

"All we can do right now Alphonse is be patient," Akame answered once she swallowed her piece of chocolate.

The younger alchemist suddenly felt his lower body feel like it was going to burst. "Please excuse me guys," Al said, jumping up from the bench.

"Need to take a leak?" Tatsumi asked.

"Just be quick. Try not to get spotted either," Akame warned.

* * *

 _Two minutes later_

Al sighed as he finished relieving himself in an alley. As he zipped up his pants, he said, "That feels much better. It sure took off some of the nerves I had." The younger alchemist suddenly heard the sound of footsteps approaching his location, and spun around quickly to see who found him. He was caught off guard by the appearance of a familiar blonde hair girl. "Winry? No wait. Sarah?" The blonde girl then ran off. "Hey!" Al took off chasing after the girl.

Back over where Akame, Ed, and Tatsumi were sitting, the trio of assassins sat in silence as they waited for Al to return. Akame glanced over at Ed, opening her mouth as if to speak, but hesitated, as she could not figure out what to say. _Don't be scared. Just ask him the question. I'm sure he would not be mad,_ Akame thought. "This friend of yours. Winry was her name correct? Did you ever love her Edward?"

Caught by surprise at the red-eyed assassin's question, Ed choked on his piece of chocolate he was chewing on. After allowing himself to catch his breath, he turned to Akame and said, "What? Where did this come from?"

"You occasionally mention her, so I figured you two must have been very close," Akame elaborated.

"I wouldn't say close. We spent many years apart due to Al and I always being somewhere trying to find the Philosopher's Stone. To be honest, I really don't have the slightest clue on what love or romance really is," Ed explained. "Looking back, I really should have visited home much more often. If I did, then maybe something could have happened between us."

"I see," the red-eyed assassin said quietly. "Have you ever considered trying to find out in this world?"

"Well… It's just that… I don't know," Ed stuttered. "I'm an assassin and all, so I would consider that a distraction. This also isn't like you Akame. Talking about love and all out of the blue." Akame turned away from Ed to hide her reaction to his statement. "How about this. Have you ever been in love?"

Akame jumped from the bench. "Alphonse hasn't returned."

"Oh right. I think he said he would be around the corner," Ed said as Akame walked away. The older alchemist looked at her with puzzlement. _Did she just ignore my question? Maybe it was stupid of me to ask that._ Shaking the thought from his head, the more important matter at hand was his brother.

"Hey Al. You finished up with your business?" Tatsumi called out as he, Ed, and Akame crossed in front of an alley, only to realize no one was present. All three assassins were stunned. "Are you sure Al would have been in this exact alley?"

"Confirmed," Akame answered. "We have to find him before something bad happens." The older alchemist took off running ahead of the red-eyed assassin and Tatsumi without hesitating.

* * *

 _Elsewhere in the Capital_

Alphonse had chased after Sarah throughout the Capital. He had managed to keep up with her running speed, but he was already beginning to feel worn out. Sarah suddenly stopped in front of a church and turned around to face Al. The younger alchemist slowed down to catch his breath.

"Sarah," Al said breathing heavily. "What are you doing here this late at night? Don't you know there's a serial killer on the loose?" The younger alchemist took the blonde girl by the hand and began to walk back to where Ed, Akame, and Tatsumi. "Come on. I have some friends who can protect you."

"Hehehehe. Why thank you very much," the sound of a man's voice caught Al off guard. He looked back to see a tall blonde man and not Sarah holding his hand. "Hello there."

"Gah," screamed Al. "You're not Sarah!" As he looked at the man, he observed him carefully and noticed something eerily familiar about him. Looking back to the time when Winry had been kidnapped, he had only gotten a brief look at the person who had kidnapped her, the only time he would see his actual appearance. The next time they would meet was years later at the Fifth Laboratory. Even if his appearance was much larger, he had the appearance of the one person he and Ed feared to never meet again: Barry the Chopper.

"Ohh. What's wrong little man? Do I remind you of someone terrible from your past?"

 _What the hell_ , thought Al as he froze. _Did he just read my mind?_ He glanced up at an eye-shaped green jewel on his head. _That thing. Is it a Teigu?_

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner," the man exclaimed. "This is the Teigu 'Spectator.' I am currently using one of its five abilities, 'insight.' It allows me to read your thoughts just by looking at your facial expressions and body language. And I am its wielder, the notorious Barry the Executioner! Now allow me to cut you up into fine little pieces little man!"

"Not on your life," Al exclaimed. "Now cut the chit chat."

"But I do quite enjoy the chit chat," Barry responded. "And if you want to know, the skill I used on my Teigu to find you is called 'farsight.' No matter the weather…" Al charged at the serial killer with a dagger he pulled out of his holster and swung, barely missing. "…I can see you as clear as day! Oh what, you really thought you could land a hit on me while I was talking? I told you, I can see everything you are thinking!"

 _I gotta be quicker_ , thought Al.

"Oh oh! First you are gonna make a weapon from the ground," Barry said. As expected, the younger alchemist clasped his hands, placed his palms on the ground, and transmuted a sword, then proceeded to charge at Barry again. "You will then come at me with a slash from the left, followed by a swing from above." The serial killer's predictions came true once again as Al swung in the directions he had intended to strike from. "Too bad that after that last swing, you leave yourself wide open for me to counterattack!"

With one swing of the blade on his right arm, Barry slashed Al across the abdomen. "Was that you plan all along kid?" The young alchemist dropped to his knees, placing his right hand over his wound.

 _Dang it. He's very strong. This is not gonna be easy_ , Al thought.

"It's always make me smile with glee when I see the face of the person I'm about to chop into little pieces. Usually it's one with eye wide open as they face their demise," ranted Barry. "So what I'd like to know is, what facial expression will you show me once I kill you?"

"Don't you dare underestimate me," Al groaned as he stood up and raised his sword. He dashed forward towards Barry to attack again.

On the other side of town, Akame, Ed, and Tatsumi walked swiftly through the streets. The silence was broken by the sudden clash of metal in the distance. The trio turned their heads in the direction it came from. "Alphonse," muttered Ed. "Please be alive."


End file.
